Ginny silently shook her head.
Seems the conversation is over already, Naomi thought. Though I’m glad she does speak—surely I can’t be as intimidating as a dragon!
After a moment, Ginny nudged her, the skin around her mouth wrinkling as she winked. “This one’s good though. A keeper.”
Naomi snorted a surprised laugh, and a moment later, Ginny was laughing as well.
“Oh, I’ll certainly try to keep him. The roses convinced me.”
This time, Naomi was the one who winked.
“I didn’t know they call it roses now.” Ginny said innocently, setting off a new round of laughter.
“Oh, I like you,” Naomi said when they’d finally calmed down. With a grin, she took hold of Ginny’s arm. “You’re delightfully naughty when you want to be. Please say you’ll be my friend. If I’m going to move in with a dragon, I’m going to need a best friend who’ll understand about dragon things.”
Naomi waved her hand, not quite sure herself what exactly dragon things were. But she was pretty sure that there’d be more surprises coming up.
Ginny tilted her head, suddenly looking serious and a little shy aga
in at the question. But after a moment, warmth filled her eyes, and she gave Naomi a nod.
“Wonderful!” Naomi beamed and pressed her arm. “I can definitely make conversation for two, and you’re allowed to hit me when I talk too much. Umm, and also when I’m making a fool out of myself. They keep talking of alpha ceremonies and fairs and festivals, everyone here seems to know each other, and just a few days ago, I didn’t even know dragons were real. So if I do or say something really stupid, feel free to hit me too.”
A soft giggle escaped Ginny, and she shook her head. “Think I’ll just tell you instead,” she murmured, although she sounded very pleased.
Arm in arm, they kept sauntering down the path, which twisted around the hedge and then opened up to yet another breathtaking view.
“A lake!” Naomi exclaimed in glee. “Seriously, how big is this place?”
There was a pair of swans gliding majestically across the water, and a group of ducks that immediately came forward as soon as the animals had spied them.
Fortunately, Ginny’d come prepared.
She drew a small plastic bag out of her pocket. Soon, Ginny and Naomi were feeding the ducks with bread crumbs. Greedily, the birds gobbled up as much as they could, and a moment later Naomi found out why.
The activity had drawn the swans’ attention, who now rapidly swam towards them, their larger bodies and long legs helping them to quickly snatch crumbs out of the water while the ducks regrouped behind them.
“You’re being quite stupid,” Naomi lectured them sternly. “There’s enough for everyone here.”
One of the swans made a bleating sound in retort that sounded so much like an insult that Naomi jumped and turned towards Ginny.
“Oops! Please tell me they’re just swans, and not—you know. Swan shifters. In which case I of course apologize for the insult!” Naomi added hastily, throwing all her leftover crumbs into the water.
The swan bleated again as Ginny began to giggle helplessly.
“Just swans,” Ginny said finally. Then she winked. “As far as I know...”
“Maybe they’re undercover. Maybe they’ve fooled you for years. Maybe they’re... spies!” Naomi gave the swans a stern look.
In response, the swans stared back, the small, black eyes fixed unflinchingly on hers.
“Now that’s a poker face if I’ve ever seen one,” Naomi muttered. “I didn’t know swans were so...”
“They’re big thugs,” Ginny said, emptying her own bag of crumbs into the water. “Big, beautiful thugs.”
Hastily, the swans gobbled up the last crumbs, ignoring their words. A moment later, they made a majestic exit, sliding away as soon as the last bit of bread had been devoured.
“Well. That showed us,” Naomi said. Then, with a smirk, she threw a crumb that she’d held back towards the still waiting ducks. “What now?”