"Why do I have to stay stuck here?" Eight-year-old Cloud complained.
"Shush," his mother, River, scolded. "You know why. The humans are traveling far. Baby dragons are not safe with them."
"They're tiny and stupid," Cloud scoffed as he thought about the new creatures that caused the biggest commotion since he was born.
"Every dragon has a right to be afraid of them, especially a baby dragon that can't fly yet," River chided sternly.
"Eh, whatever," Cloud said indifferently. He didn't get why his family was so worried about the skinny, unbalanced humans. They seemed safe enough.
Once, when he was staring at the edge of the forest, a human had caught sight of him. His first impulse was to run, but the human beat him to that. The tiny figure shrieked, dropping everything, and ran into the shadows that his mother forbade him from. Very terrifying.
River glanced around. " Cloud!" She scolded. "They can be dangerous.  Especially to baby dragons. When you are nine you can explore more."
Cloud huffed and turned away. After a while, he complained," I'm hungry."
"Your father is bringing food back for you."
"Ash almost never comes back!" Cloud lamented.
River leaned back for a second, her silvery blue scales turning dark with anger and surprise. "Don't talk about your father like that," River scolded harshly. "Your father is a wonderful dragon."
Cloud thought for a moment. "Well, then I'm bored."
River rolled her eyes and said, "Well, go find your sister, Evening, to play with then."
"But Evening-"
"I'm a little tired, Cloud. Come back by dinner."
       River settled down and closed her eyes, folding her wings in and breathing evenly like she was asleep. Cloud tried every trick he knew to wake annoying dragons up(such as his mother), but River stayed stubbornly in the sleeping position. Cloud finally succumbed to find Evening to play with.
      Creeping out of the cave carved into the face of the mountain, he walked straight into a shower of water. Yelping, he jumped back, avoiding most of the tall tree that was very inconveniently located outside of his home. Water cascaded down the pine needles, which were swaying in the strong breeze from last night's storm.
What little sky Cloud could see above the densely packed trees revealed foreboding clouds stuffed full of water but able to resist the straining droplets of liquid.
      Grumbling, Cloud shook out his wings and head butted his way through the forest, blindly staggering to the one place he knew Evening would be.
But when he reached the leaf-strewn clearing, Evening was nowhere in sight. Cloud gave a little puff of fire to warm himself and see in the darkened space. His belly confirmed that it should've been about dinner time right now.
Cloud wandered through the forest, but with really no destination in mind. Cloud knew if he couldn't find Evening in the clearing muttering over the fallen leaves, he would most likely not find her anywhere.
Cloud was originally heading toward the lightning-zapped oak tree in the midst of the forest, so he was surprised to find himself on the edge of human territory.
     The air was so different here, musky with the scent of ever-burning fire and human-made stone dust discarded and littered on the rocky ground.
Cloud looked back at the thick forest behind him, suddenly looming ominously above him, like so many unknown enemies, just waiting for the right moment.
Cloud shook himself, but he couldn't draw his eyes away from the human territory. Warm. Glowing. Hardly threatening. The rest of the village was hidden behind a small bend.
Cloud hesitated, half his brain screaming at him to go back, his other half urging to go into the human territory.
What would his family have done?
His mother would never entered the human territorial. His older brother would have pretended that everything was beneath his notice. Evening would have stood at the shadows timidly, perhaps, but she wouldn't have gone. His father... He had no idea. And...what would his oldest sister do?
His oldest sister, who was clairvoyant and who always understood him. What would she have done?
And he knew Star would have gone over, for the thirst of adventure, for the sake of just rebelling against the rules. 
Three against one, but Star was worth at least a hundred.
He closed his eyes and stepped over the border.
He half expected screaming humans with pointy sticks to come howling and jabbing at him, but it felt like...like...Normal, maybe. He turned a circle, trying to figure out if his tail was still there. He couldn't tell. Only then did he sense the watching human.
    Cloud's brain was practically exploding with the urge to go back, but his body did not react, it responded.
Cloud ran deep into the forest, following the stone-paved road. A glow was up ahead. Clouds heartbeat could have had a race with a hummingbirds wings, and his heart would have won.
He was just about to round the corner into the village when he tripped over a tiny little child of twelve years of age. He started to apologize when he realized it was a human.
      Seeing a real human up close, with their squashed delicate features and their spindly legs, made Cloud trip all over again. Cloud finally managed to scramble up and started to run back to the forest, crashing through the woods and back into the safety of the forest.
It was no longer towering, but friendly and home. The place behind him was the ominous place. Oh, this whole thing was a bad idea. Why did he have to think of Star?
Cloud was almost at the border. He had been forbidden to think about his past, but now he had. Star would have looked back. 
Cloud stopped and revolved slowly on his foot, facing his right. He turned left. He turned back and caught a glimpse of the human standing there, staring at him. 
Cloud whipped around and scampered back to his home.

"Cloud! You shouldn't go out there on your own, especially since you're only eight years old. And you missed dinner, too! All the good food is gone. And blah blah blah blah blah..."
Cloud waited for his mother to finish her lecture, then asked hopefully,"Are you done?"
River shot him one of her super glares and he fell silent. Not that he was being loud, really.
"Mother, I'm going to sleep," His pompous brother, Rain, called. "And try to be good for once, Cloud."
Cloud gritted his teeth and narrowly missed burning the furniture down to nothing.
His mother huffed- at both of them- and settled down in a nearby cavern. "What were you doing, Cloud?" She muttered.
Cloud froze. He exhaled deeply when he realized his mother did not expect an answer. When he settled down to sleep that night, he couldn't sleep. His mind was filled with visions of humans waving pointy stone branches and the boy in the forest staring after him.