Saphira soared through the clear sky, her wings beating in rhythm with her excited heartbeats. Clutched in her forepaws was a finely crafted set of armor packed into a bundle that she cradled with great care to avoid tearing the sack’s fabric.

Her left hind paw held a luxurious bear fur coat. Occasionally, she switched it to the other paw to help her toes relax and shed some of that numbness stemming from her paranoia of accidentally dropping it.

As she approached her landing spot, a hint of anxiety trickled through her frame. The thought of dirtying the pristine coat with an accidental misstep troubled her enough to think of a landing using but her free hind paw. She needed to land carefully; to balance her weight on just one leg prior to emptying her forepaws. A tricky task, even for a dragon of her skill and grace.

Her descent began smoothly, but as she neared the ground, the imbalance caused by the occupied hind paw that she tried not to stretch forward made her trajectory awkward. She aimed for a clear patch of ground but misjudged the distance slightly due to her uneven load. Her large, scaled body landed awkwardly, her single free hind paw touching down perilously close to a thorn bush at the edge of the clearing.

Unbeknownst to her, she had landed on a patch of dried thorn bush branches hidden in the grass. As the entirety of her weight pressed down onto one single paw, a sharp pang of discomfort shot through it, causing her to let out a surprised hiss. The bundle of armor clattered to the ground as she hastily dropped it in order to adjust her stance.

Limping to protect the prized coat, Saphira made her way to a nearby boulder to deposit the precious load on a clean surface. That done, her focus turned to the painful pricks shooting through the bottom of her foot.

Settling down on the soft grass, Saphira curled her neck to bring her head around, trying to spot the offending thorns. She first attempted to use her teeth to remove them, but they were too small and deeply embedded in the soft pads of her paw. Her attempts only resulted in frustration, the thorns evading her careful nips.

Switching tactics, she tried using her long, dexterous tongue, hoping to dislodge the thorns that way.

But even this proved futile; the thorns remained stubbornly in place, flaring growing irritation.

Frustration turned to growls and whimpers as Saphira pressed her paw tighter against her snout. She nipped and prodded at the thorns with increasing urgency, each failed attempt amplifying her discomfort and annoyance.

The usually composed dragon found herself grappling with a mix of pain and exasperation. Each nip of her teeth was precise, yet the tiny thorns defied her efforts. A second attempt at employing her tongue bore even worse results. The thorns shifted within her pads, spiking up the sting.

The dragoness’ eyes scrunched in pain as she wrestled herself away from her paw, her lips pulled up in an enraged snarl.
Growls of varied intensity echoed through the clearing, a rare display of her displeasure. She—a majestic dragon!—reduced to such a state!

No!

No, no, no! She wouldn’t limp to Eragon like some bumbling buffoon!

Her paw pressed tight against her snout’s tip, her nipping fangs once again put to work in removing the tiny, painful invaders.

Her tongue worked with equally determined strokes over that particular spot, but its pressure only seemed to make the situation worse, causing the small spines to stick more stubbornly into her skin. She spread her toes as wide as she could, hoping to give her teeth better access to the troublesome thorns.

But even this strategy proved ineffective. The thorns remained firmly lodged in the smooth surface of her paw, each attempt to dislodge them only adding to her mounting anger.

Finally, with a roar of exasperation, Saphira ceased her efforts, laying her paw gently against the other as her mind focused on channeling a burst of magic that might help dispel these terrorizing thorns. She but had to will it hard enough to—
"Trying a new form of magic training?"

Caught off guard by Eragon’s voice, Saphira scrambled to regain her composure, but her love’s hand quickly gestured for her to stay put.

“Let me take a look. Knowing you, it’s all a setup to get me to worship every part of you.”

“Hrrr hrrr,” she mocked him with her growly laughter. “I can still walk, you know. The only reason I needed you here was…well…”

"Let me see your paw, Saphira," he requested in spite of noticing her gifts.

Saphira obeyed with an irritated huff. So much for surprising him with her generosity…

“I can very well yawwwr!”

Each spine's removal made Saphira wince and yelp. Flames, but he did not fool around!

By the time he was done, tears welled within Saphira’s eyes.

“Oh, get over it,” he teased, his hands rubbing and stroking the entirety of her paw, much to her humming delight. “Or is it this that you seek?”

Unexpectedly, his lips rushed to kiss the area where the thorns had been embedded. "To speed your recovery," he said with a grin.

Saphira hissed at the notion, finding it both absurd and endearing. "That sounds ridiculously superstitious," she said, even though she inwardly beamed from such lofty praise.

"Hrrf…” her wing attempted to shove him back, but Eragon remained undeterred. “Perhaps it is fitting that you kiss my feet, considering the gifts I've brought you."

“As to that, well…,” Eragon said on his way to her snout. Once there, he reached up to plant a kiss between her nostrils and wrapped his arms around her as best as he could. "The greatest gift I have will always be you.”

***THE END***