2' 10" mark of healing halfling, wispy brown hair, tree-green eyes, accompanied by drake companion Flare (dark blue with flames for spine)

Backstory:

He did not remember their faces—only the cold. It clung to him like a second skin, seeping through the coarse blanket that smelled of travel dust. He didn’t know the hands that held him were halfling hands, trembling as they fled deeper into the Emerald Mountains. He remembered the jolt when he slipped, the ground rushing up, the thin wail swallowed by vast stone. Footsteps faded. Two figures ran. Not looking back. All he knew was that he had been left behind.

The mountains loomed, ancient and indifferent. Wind whispered mournfully through the narrow pass. He cried again, tiny hands grasping for warmth that was gone.

Then a shadow fell over him—vast, warm, smelling of moss and ancient earth. Emerald scales shimmered as a dragon descended, wings folding softly. Her eyes glowed with gentle verdant light. She looked at him not as prey or threat, but as something fragile. Her breath soothed him. Her thoughts brushed his mind—warmth, safety, a lullaby. He reached out and touched her cool scales. She lifted him delicately, wrapping him securely, shielding him from the wind. She glanced once toward the fleeing halflings, then carried him into her domain.

Her cavern was a sunlit refuge alive with color—drakes tumbling, moss sprites drifting, glow‑moths clinging to crystal veins, pebble‑spirits humming near a stone pool. Willow, calm and bark‑skinned, and Thistle, a bright snow pixie, approached. Drakes chirped curiously. The dragon settled on her moss‑lined resting place, curling protectively around the child. He opened his eyes, unfocused but calm, reaching toward the moss. The creatures gathered close. He slept safely for the first time.

Starlight grew in warmth. He crawled across moss soft as velvet, encouraged by Pebble, a ruby‑scaled hatchling who mirrored his movements. Willow steadied him gently; Thistle narrated his every action with breathless excitement. Sprites drifted lower when he laughed, glow‑moths spiraled around him, burrow‑hares listened to his babbles. Arianna, the dragon, let him climb her foreleg and perch on her shoulder. Flare, a quiet drake, watched him from a distance, her glow brightening when he succeeded.