severe veldt
A friend of mine made this adorable artwork for me, and I wanted to share it with you, and used it as inspiration for a tale. 
Once upon a time, there lived a young girl with bright orange hair. She had a warm home, a caring family, and a beloved sister. Regrettably, what she did not have was luck, or the good graces of Morrighan. When the fighting swept through the land, the maelstrom of steel and arrows took everything from her. Debris and soot filled her hair, and tears filled her eyes.
Separated from her dear sister, who always looked out for her, she found herself truly alone among the rubble. But humans are not the only ones touched by war, and the wandering girl met a tiny blue dragon, tending to his injuries received in the destruction of the town's magic laboratory. Though small, he had a big heart, and spoke to the girl.
"Are you injured, Tiny Human? Why do you cry so?"
"Because I'm all alone!" she howled, tiny fists shaking in directionless rage.
"That makes two of us," the dragon offered, bandaging his body with rags from the late magician's red cloak. Taken aback, the child realized this magical creature's soul carried the same wounds as her own. Finding kindred spirits in one another, the two left their ruined home together, following a trail of fleeing townspeople's dropped objects and overturned carriages into the woods.
Their search for food was slow; the results scarce. "We would cover more ground if we split up, Tiny Human," suggested the dragon. Tears welled up anew in the girl's eyes. "Please don't leave me," she implored him. "I don't want to be alone again..."
With bells from an abandoned carriage and a strip of fabric from the red cloak, the dragon fashioned a scarf he tied around the girl's neck. "I can hear these bells wherever you go, and find you wherever you are. You are not alone anymore."
Together, they would each grow up big and strong, and never leave each other's side.
