"Don't love me, just hold me..." - Ed Everything was quiet in the apartment. My parents were away, Drask, Bromus and Sulpher were outside on the roof, looking at the clouds on the horison. Mkima was somwhere. I was lying peacefully on my bed, looking though my window up at the crimson sky. It must have been around six. I rolled over, and closed my eyes, and listened. The soft pit pat of rain fell on the tin roof of the apartment block. The world seem to get very quiet, interrupted only by the laughs of Drask and Bromus who were playing outside my window in the rain. I could hear the tv in the living room, the theme of Tom & Jerry playing. Sulpher. She loves that cartoon. She shouted to Drask and Bromus to come inside. "Before you idiots catch a cold!". She loved being suttle. Everything was peacefull, and my thoughts drifted.... I didn't even hear him come in, or the door close. His claws were like satin down my back, lightly flowing up and down. I slowly rolled over, and looked up at him. "Hey there, big guy.." I whispered. Miktar sat down on the bed beside me, and lay a paw on my chest. "Hey there, little one.." he whispered back. He smiled softly and leaned forward, giving me a soft nuzzle. I brought a hand up to his face, and ran a single finger down its side. Laying a paw on my hand, he pressed it to his face. I smiled up at him, but noticed something. There was something in his eyes... A Question. I sat up, pulling my pillow up behind my back, and leaned against it. I pulled the large pillow down from the shelf and put it next to me. "Come..." I motioned to Miktar, and he lay down beside me, his head on the large pillow. I rested my hand on his shoulder, looking into his eyes. "You want to ask me something, don't you?" I told him. The tip of his tail twitched, as it always did when I was unnearvingly correct in judging what he was thinking. "We have known each other for a long time." He said. I nodded, adjusting myself a bit to get more comfortable. "We've been together so long. We've been very close. Always affectionate with each other." I said. Miktar looked up at me with a look of confusion. "But, I still don't understand, why.... Why do we like each other so much? Why do I feel this way towards you? What is it, that makes us so close?" I admit, I was a little taken by these questions. I wasn't sure, if I knew the answers myself, not completely at least. There was only one word I could think of, at that moment. "Love.." I told him. "We love each other, Miktar." His tail gave a little twitch, then started moving slowly from side to side. "What is, love?" He asked me. I closed my eyes, and rested my head against the pillow behind me. "Love... differs from person to person, Miktar. It can mean diffrent things, to diffrent people, depending on a lot of things." I said, softly, thinking about the question myself. Miktar asked, "But, other people don't matter. What does it mean, to you? To us?" He sat up, and pulled me against me, leaning me back against him. I looked up at him. "Love, is nothing more than word used to describe a feeling. A feeling, of contentment, desire, sensuality.....attraction towards each other. The feeling, when we touch. When we hold each other, in times of joy, in times of sadness. Its only when you feel love, when you really know what it is. You cannot prove love, nor deny it. You can't make love go away when you want it to, or try to force love to exist. You can try to fool yourself into thinking that love is there, when it isn't. But you will always know, that you are fooling yourself. You cannot fake love. You just can't. Nobody can take love away. Nobody has the right, to judge love. Love, cannot be right or wrong. Love cannot be questioned. But...." Miktar ran a claw softly over my cheek. "But?" he asked... "But.... Love can fade. Over time, like any feeling, it can slowly leave someone. Love, like any feeling, has to stand the test of time, and time is a hard test to pass. Only the strongest love, the purest love, will remain forever.... To haved loved, and to have that love leave you, is more harsh than a thousand deaths. A deep cut can heal, but it will leave a scar. And when you look at that scar, you will think of the pain you went through when you got cut....." Miktar put a paw over my mouth, making me silent. He turned me around, so that I was facing him. Looking into my eyes, he slowly took the paw away, and I remained silent. He leaned forward, and kissed me on the cheek. I smiled at him, and tilted my head to one side, giving him a curious look. "I know, where love can go wrong.." he told me. He wrapped is arms around me, embracing me. Holding me close, holding me tight. I gently rubbed his sides, and looked up at his face... "It can go wrong, when you think to much about it.... For now, don't love me, just hold me." the dragon told me. The rain continued outside...... The sky grew darker, as night fell..... Drask, Bromus and Sulper, asleep on the couch in front of the TV while a cartoon about a cow and a chicken flickers an incandescant light across the livingroom..... In the embrace of the one I loved, I closed my eyes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Love, is not eternal. For that would mean, one would have to live forever, to truely love....." - Mkima ------------------------------------------------------------------------