Maple woke up to the rest of the group hastily packing up. The fire had gone out. He could see a little light coming from the hole in the ceiling, signaling that it was just about sunrise.

  I'm still alive?

  Maple looked towards the dragon. It was still asleep - but that wouldn't be forever. So he joined the group in packing everything up. He stuffed the backpacks with their supplies, not bothering to stay organized like all the other times.

  The dragon had shifted in its sleep during the night - they were able to safely squeeze between it and the wall without waking it up. Maple held his breath as he passed the white scales and spikes of the beast, it almost made a spiky wall. Its loud rasps terrified him. He could reach out and touch the dragon right now - if he was crazy enough.

  Once the group was free from the dragon, they hoofed their way back to the entrance. No one wanted to be near that thing when it woke up. They quickly made their way through the winding tunnel towards the entrance - until everything went wrong.

  As they approached the end of the corridor, they could see a muffled blue light bleeding down the walls. They slowed down as they reached a white and blue barrier of solid ice.

  "No, no, no, no, no!" Lake panicked. "Granite! When you explored the cave last night-"

  "This was the only entrance." Granite interrupted. "We can't leave."

  "Crap. That's why the dragon didn't kill us last night - it knew we couldn't escape." Copperhead cursed. "The bastard trapped us. Saved us for its damn morning meal."

  Maple's eyes were wide as he stared at the icy wall. He knew that ice dragons have an ice breath - but to use it like this?

  Did I doom us all by not advocating to kill it last night? Was it just being efficient with its prey? He looked back toward the cave they slept in. What if they are actually smart, but only use it to hunt?

  "Break it! Granite, Alpine, try and break it with your swords!" Lake ordered. The two guards drew their blades and began hitting the artificial barrier with the pommels. Small chips flew with each noisy strike. Maple glanced behind him, hoping that the dragon was still asleep and wouldn't wake up from the sound.

  Progress was slow - the ice was surprisingly strong too - a few minutes only yielded a small divot barely large enough for a child's fist to fit into, and it didn't even pierce the other side.

  We won't make it in time. Maple realized. The dragon will wake up and... and...

  A series of growls sounded from behind him. Everyone whirled around to see the dragon had woken up and made its way to the entrance as well.

  "This is it." Copperhead breathed. "This is where we die, isn't it?"

  The dragon stared at them for a short moment, then proceeded to walk towards them, the humans frozen in fear. What should they do - what could they do? Even if they escaped the dragon now into the tunnels, it could just keep hunting them in the caves until they were too exhausted to run or were cornered.

  So everyone was confused when the dragon skirted around them to the side and made its way towards the ice wall.

  What?

  The dragon turned around, looked at them, then slammed its tail into the ice, shattering it into pieces and clearing the path for them. It stared back at them expectantly, then turned and sauntered into the morning air.

  Everyone stood there stunned at what just happened, wind blowing into their faces.

  "Did it just...help us?" Alpine asked.

  "I...think it did." Lake responded.

  "This has to be a trap. Why would a dragon do that?" Granite said.

  Copperhead and Maple were silent. Thoughts were whirling around their heads as they tried to process everything. Then, Maple took a step forward.

  "What are you doing?" Lake demanded sharply.

  "I'm stepping out. I... think we might be okay." Maple answered. "The dragon hasn't been aggressive towards us this whole time." He thought back to when the dragon looked him in the eyes a few days ago. There was no malice then - there was no malice now.

  "So what, you're going to walk out there? Into its claws?" Granite mocked.

  "Yes."

  Maple kept moving forward. He exited the tunnel into the bright sunlight of the day. He quickly raised his hand to cover his eyes, and when he lowered it, he was only a few feet away from the dragon who was looking at him with its head tilted curiously.

  *****

  Winter was waiting right outside the cave for the scavengers to come out. He could tell he was confusing them with his actions - it was clear they didn't understand why he hadn't tried to eat them yet, being a dragon and all. But confusion meant progress - it was better than fear.

  Maybe I can stay with them as they finish their journey - I think they're heading back anyway.

  One of the scavengers was now making its way outside. It raised its paw to block the sun's rays in its eyes. When it noticed Winter, it didn't run away, thankfully. It just stopped and stared at him. Carefully, Winter raised a talon and waved at it, just like the other day. The scavenger's nervousness was obvious, but it eventually answered with its own small wave.

  Winter was elated. The scavenger didn't run! It may not be fully trustful, but it definitely was no longer thinking he would eat it.

  After a few seconds, a voice squeaked from inside the cave, to which the scavenger answered, and another one carefully left the cave. This one was a bit taller, with longer fur on top of its head. Winter recognized it as a female. It was holding onto one of those claws they use as weapons - but didn't seem to want to attack him. It seemed more so as a precaution - at least to Winter. Scavengers are still unpredictable, after all.

  Winter gave a small wave to the new scavenger as well. She didn't return the gesture though - the scavenger only stared at him, dumbstruck by his actions.

  Now he just needs to wait for the others. Winter pointed to the cave and tilted his head in question, hoping the scavengers got his meaning. The two exchanged a series of squeaks with each other before one of them called into the cave. One by one, the other three exited the mountain. All were wary of Winter, but he noticed (if he interpreted them right) other layers of expressions that ranged from curiosity to interest to outright hostility (alright, he didn't have to think very much with that one, one of them looked particularly unhappy to see him).

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  Winter didn't do anything - he managed to get them outside without them running away.

  Now what?

  Just wait for them to start moving I guess, and join them. Hopefully by spending an extended period of time with a friendly dragon would change their opinions of us in general.

  Winter decided to just stand by and watch the scavengers. At first they also watched him, until they started conversing with themselves. They fell into a pattern of paw-waving, voice-raising, and glancing at Winter often. He didn't try to enter what he was observing - he let the scavengers sort out whatever it was they were arguing about. At least, he thought they were arguing.

  It's probably about me. Winter thought with a smirk. Why I haven't done anything bad to them and what I'll do next.

  They went back and forth for a few minutes until it seemed like one side conceded. After that they started moving down the slope of the mountain, likely to continue their journey. Winter stood up and started towards them, which caused them all to freeze.

  Winter mimicked the action, stopping all of his motion. He and the scavengers just stared at each other.

  Am I doing this too fast? Should I wait before trying to join them?

  One of the scavengers turned towards Winter, pointed at him, and gestured moving behind it.

  Winter recognized it as the one who first exited the cave. When Winter didn't respond, it repeated the motions. A different scavenger snapped towards him, but the response was cool and collected, despite the small tremor Winter saw reverberating across its limbs.

  Winter tilted his head in question. Is it asking if I want to follow them or take the lead? Or to leave?

  The scavenger gestured a third time. This time Winter nodded, unsure of what would happen from his response.

  The scavenger nodded back, turned and went back to traversing the mountain. The others, with wary glances at Winter, followed suit.

  I guess this means I can follow them?

  Winter took a step forward. The scavengers didn't change what they were doing, aside from throwing some nervous looks.

  It seems like it.

  So they continued forward, and Winter followed the group for the rest of the day. While they were still wary, they mostly kept moving whilst not keeping their distance from Winter. That was fine with him - this was a process after all. And observing is just as interesting anyways.

  The scavengers eventually stopped near sundown, where they started setting up what Winter could only guess was a camp. A few got a fire started, which made sense. What puzzled Winter were the clothes they laid on the ground - why would they need it?

  They look like blankets, but why...oh. That's right - I'm pretty sure scavengers get cold a lot more easily than dragons, they are so small.

  Winter sat aside and took out his notes scroll and inkpot from the pouch around his ankle to record this observation. He thought he would've used it sooner and a lot more often, but he figured speculation and guesses wouldn't be too helpful. He found himself a flat rock to unroll the paper on and dipped his claw in the inkpot.

  When traveling, it seems scavengers bring certain blankets for sleeping through the cold nights...

  *****

  The expedition had found a place to stop for the night. The journey was normal, for all intents and purposes - except they now had a dragon tagging along. A dragon that wasn't hunting them - which was bizarre. And it kept staring at them for the whole trip too, which made him even more confused.

  As Maple sat by the fire, he studied the dragon - it had bruises and blue blood on its scales, though from what Maple couldn't confirm.

  It's been following us since the Indestructible City, but not actually hunting us - why would a creature driven solely by instinct do something like that? It makes no sense.

  Then again, there was quite a bit of evidence showing that it was intelligent - waving, nodding, simple communication - and the fact that it had just started writing.

  Maple couldn't believe it - the dragon literally took out some paper and started scribbling on it with its claw. Maple nudged Lake next to him and pointed to the dragon. Lake looked over, and seemed confused, until he noticed what it was doing. The dragon was moving its talon from one side of the paper to the other before moving it back and a little further down - a very familiar motion to Maple and Lake.

  "Is it writing?" He said, astonished.

  "I think so," Maple responded. The fact that it was writing meant it was just as smart as humans, meaning other dragons would be too.

  But if they were smart, why did they keep killing humans? Couldn't they see that humans are intelligent too? What if...

  "What do you think it's writing about?" Lake interrupted Maple's chain of thoughts before they could go any deeper. Maple pondered what Lake said, then stood up.

  "What are you doing?" Lake asked sharply.

  "I'm going to see what it's writing." Maple replied. He started towards the dragon.

  "Terrible idea." Lake stated.

  "I should be fine."

  Lake shrugged, turned back to the fire, and said, "Your funeral."

  Maple nervously walked over to the dragon. His bold curiosity very quickly dissipated as he approached the massive creature. He imagined this would be easier when the thought crossed his mind.

  The dragon looked up from what it was doing. Maple instinctively froze under the dragon's gaze. The dragon gave a small wave before returning to what it was doing. Maple sighed in relief. He got a little closer, but he still couldn't see the paper. He took another step closer...

  And another...

  And another...

  Maple inched his way over until he was right next to the dragon. Barely even a foot away from humanity's greatest foe, to say he was nervous would be an understatement. His heart was pounding wildly, his mind was racing, his muscles were tense - he was totally freaking out. He could see the paper relatively well now though - and what he witnessed was fascinating. He saw many foreign symbols covering the page - stars and moons and flames and other characters that Maple assumed were part of a dragon language.

  That's incredible. Dragons have their own language? It sounded like random growling to him when this dragon spoke.

  A series of growls came from the dragon, causing Maple to jump away. He turned to face the dragon, who growled some more in a lower tone, sounding almost careful.

  "Uh... hello?" Maple said. He didn't know what else to do, but it isn't polite to not respond.

  More growls from the dragon.

  "Erm... I'm doing fine, thank you."

  I'm trying to talk to a dragon. I'm actually trying to talk to a fucking dragon.

  He nervously glanced back at the camp, except Alpine who was watching the interaction with interest from afar, they were all still busy setting up for the night.

  The dragon seemed to think for a bit, then used a claw to draw something in the dirt. Maple tried to make sense of the sketch - it was a circle divided into four quadrants, with each quadrant housing a different symbol. Maple could make out a blowing air in the left section, a rain cloud in the right, a sun in the bottom and a snowflake in the top one.

  What's this supposed to mean?

  Maple glanced up at the dragon and deliberately tilted his head to the side - they both seemed to understand it meant a question. The dragon traced its claw around the drawing in a certain direction, going from one symbol to the next.

  So, a snowflake, a rain cloud, a sun, and likely wind, in that order... Maple rubbed his chin, scrutinising the dragon's sketch.

  What is the connection between them all? He thought before it dawned on him. Is it trying to describe seasons?

  Maple glanced back at the dragon, who was looking at him expectantly. The dragon pointed at the snowflake, then at itself. It repeated the motion a few more times.

  A snowflake is generally associated with winter during the year... Is it saying it's a winter dragon? Because we already know that. Or is it saying it is winter? Maple titled his head again.The dragon pointed at the snowflake, and this time made some deliberate growls. Then it pointed to itself and made the same growls.

  Is it saying its NAME is Winter?

  A name like that is befitting to an ice dragon, but dragons having names!? Really?

  Maple looked at the oversized paper. Ok, maybe dragons having names is plausible - they can clearly write after all.

  The dragon did the same pattern of growling again, and this time gestured at Maple. When Maple stayed silent, it did the same deliberate growling and pointed at Maple again.

  I guess it wants me to repeat what it said. Maple tried repeating the same sounds back, which sounded nothing like what the dragon said, and he almost choked on himself while trying. It shook its head, pronounced the syllables slowly, and let Maple repeat it. The pattern continued for long minutes before Maple was able to recite what it had said correctly. The ice dragon nodded with approval at Maple's first correct pronunciation.

  "So that's your name I guess." Maple said at the end of the pseudo-lesson. He looked up at the dragon and smiled.

  "[Winter] - Nice to meet you."