The Valley of the Dragonette

"Daddy get up!"
...
"Daddy? Get. Up. Now!"
"Hrmh..."
"I said: GET UP NOW!"
Her weight was now on him.
"G'backt'bd" he mumbled and hit her with a pillow.
"NO! You will get up now! I'm lonely!"
Oh. Right. She would be, wouldn't she?

Willis let out a yawn and turned on his back, with his little daughter remaining firmly on top of him, staying still even as he moved. This left her on top of his chest, and as he opened his eyes, the first sight of his day were his daughter's yellowish eyes, staring at him intensely.
"You're still not up, Daddy" she said with a strict tone. Willis ruffled her hair in response and yawned again.
"All in due time, little one. Patience is a virtue, or so my granny said to me"
He pulled himself up into a more seated position and stretched.
"That's not it either Daddy!"

Olivia was six years old. Her hair was shorter than usual for her age, due to an unfortunate accident with her fire-breath. It was a nice, thick head of hair nonetheless, much stronger than what Willis himself had. His was greasier though. Might want to wash it soon.
"What do you say to getting a bath ready for Daddy?" he asked, scratching his chin and wondering whether to shave today or not. Rhea might like it if he grew a beard while she was gone. A trim, at least.
He then noticed Olivia hadn't budged. She was looking at him a little suspiciously, her tail curled around one foot, her wings slightly flapping, her eats flat against her head as if a cat's.
"Do I have to take a bath too?"
Willis grinned at this.
"That depends. Are you dirty?"
"No..."
"Then you don't need one. But I'm dirty, and I do"
Olivia nodded, got off from on top of him and skipped along to prepare a bath for him.

Willis threw off the covers and let the heat of the night escape his body, enjoying the shivering this caused. You learned to like chills when you spent most nights in bed with a Dragon.
He sighed. Not last night though. Or the next one. Or the one after that. And so on and so forth for who knows how long.
Rhea had gathered up her lady friends and gone off raiding and pillaging again. Willis hoped they wouldn't get too carried away again and forget that they had subjects who needed things other than trinkets, coins, rolls of fancy cloth and well-endowed young men. Though young men could work in the fields, that might not be so bad.
Now that Rhea and her lot were gone, the Lair was empty, save for Willis and Olivia, neither of whom the warrior lady would permit join her on these raids, and that left the little Dragon pup lonely indeed. Well, that wasn't entirely accurate. There were still a few servants, but none of them lead lives interesting enough to keep her entertained for very long. The caverns into which the Lair had been built were also the home of Werebats, Oomukades, and Devil Bugs, all of whom did some menial tasks in service to Lady Rhea in exchange for shelter, food and the occasional new man to dote upon. That's right, the men. There were plenty of them, too. Willis quite forgot. Of those of Rhea's group who were married, the majority took their husbands with them into battle, what with them being veteran warriors and all.
It had been quite a long time since Willis had spent any meaningful time with the men of the Lair. Being a father was a full-time occupation, even more so than being a husband and the guy who polished the silverware. Maybe he could find some time to catch up with them now that the ladies were out for a long time.
Now where were his clothes? Oh, right. Where he left them. Absolutely all over the place.

"Aaahh~"
The bathwater had been heated up by Olivia, and she remained near the tub to hear whether Daddy enjoyed it or not. And he did, immensely so.
"Olivia, be a dear and get me the shampoo"
She looked at him quizzically.
"The blue bottle?"
"Oh!"
She easily climbed up the tiles on the wall and reached the shelf where the bottle in question was located, but then she hesitated.
"What's wrong dear?"
"If I come close... will you dunk me in the water?"
"Hahaha! Of course not, silly. This is MY bath, you can't have it!"
This made Olivia show her tongue and bravely come close enough to hand him the bottle of shampoo. As Willis took it, he quickly grabbed her by the root of her tail and lifted her into the tub.
"Hahahaha!"
Willis laughed like a brat. He felt entitled to behave like a child every now and again.

Olivia was not amused, giving him as murderous a glare as a six-year-old could muster.
"You lied to me Daddy"
Willis reclined comfortably and splashed the water with his feet.
"What are you going to do about it, princess?"
"Mmm..." she hummed, biting her lip.
"Tell you what? Why don't I show you a little magic trick?"
"You don't know any magic, Daddy!"
"That's true, but I didn't say a magic spell, I said a trick"
"You mean you're tricking me again?"
"Kind of"
"I don't wanna!"
"Your loss!"
Willis shrugged his shoulders, opened the bottle of shampoo and poured some of the stuff out. His hair was getting a little long, he might need quite a bit, actually...
"Bubbles..."
"Hm?"
"Bubbles!"
Olivia was staring at the water, where a couple of droplets from the shampoo had fallen. It was really just foam... oh.
"You want bubbles?"
"YES!"
Willis shrugged again.
"Then let's cut a deal! You go put this back on the shelf, put those wet clothes up to dry, and bring me the orange bottle so we can make bubbles"
She nodded with some hesitation, then got out of the water and went to work. Kids sure loved their bubblebaths, even if they didn't like baths.

"Oh no! It's a Kraken! She'll plunder out booties she will!"
"Argh, laddie, I'll show ya how to shiver 'er timbers!"
Olivia was very much concentrated on recreating a naval battle of some sort, using one of her toy ships for the ship and her other hand as the Kraken. Some of the men who had wed Rhea's raiders had encountered such terrifying beasts as the Kraken in their travels, and of course they'd have told the curious little Dragonette about it.
The two of them had been in the bath long enough for the water to have gone lukewarm, and Willis was starting to turn his thoughts to whatever he would eat for breakfast. Was it even time for breakfast, or was it lunchtime already? The passage of time was a little hazy in the Hoard. The rest of the Lair ran on schedules and such, but in here no timepiece caused concern for anyone.
Willis got out of the bath and left Olivia to play in it. He had to find someone who could cook.

For a brief moment he looked around the Hoard and tried to remember how it had looked when he first arrived. This had been just a dark, damp cave then, and somewhere here was a corner he had huddled in to cry his eyes out like a baby. The place was so unrecognizably different now that he couldn't find the spot if he tried.
The Lair consisted of countless caverns and caves filled now with rooms and the like, with even rivers flowing in it. The Hoard was a smaller, closed place, containing the treasure chamber and the housing for Rhea's family. The treasure chamber had two ways in: the grandiose metal gate through which it was filled after raids, and the smaller door in Rhea's bedroom. Willis and Rhea had slept in the treasure chamber for months before they - well, just Rhea - managed to get together enough coin to pay for the construction of proper rooms. As such, the living quarters of the Hoard consisted of two bedrooms, one for Rhea and Willis and one for Olivia, the bathroom with its lavish tub, and a large room for dining and lounging on couches and divans.
This last room was where Willis made his way to, for here was the bell for summoning servants. He rung it, and it wasn't long until the den's door leading to the rest of the Lair was knocked on.
"Come in"
The door slid open without a creak, the hinges were well oiled. When Olivia had been just a toddler, they couldn't do that because she's have set them on fire.
An Oomukade scuttled along the floor, her eyes downcast. Her name was... Anisette? Yes, quite. That was it.
"Anisette, be a dear and bring us some..." wait, what time was it?
"Breakfast, Master Willis?"
"Quite right. Breakfast. Thank you Anisette"
She curtsied and scuttled off.
At this point Willis noticed he was stark naked. Heh, no wonder she didn't look up. Now where was that bathrobe?

A little later the bathwater had been drained and father and daughter were lounging in bathrobes and fluffy slippers as Anisette served them bacon, eggs and toast. Of course Olivia demanded she be allowed to toast her own bread, and it didn't really work out.
"I've seen Mommy do it lots of times!" she complained.
"That's because Mommy has had years and years of practice, unlike you. You'll get there"
"But I now I don't have any toast!"
Anisette twitched a little and offered to handle it for her as she had for Willis.
"No! I need to practice!"
"As the Young Mistress wishes"
She backed away, and Olivia continued to practice. With her best efforts, she managed to concentrate her fire breath into a whistling blue flame, which didn't even leave any evidence behind of her failure.
"Uuu..."
She wasn't going to cry, this Willis already knew. She just wanted a pat on her head. Which she got.
Unexpectedly, Olivia grabbed his hand with her tiny claws.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing"
Willis didn't pry. She probably just missed her mother.
"Anisette, tell me, how's everyone doing in the Lair?" Willis asked to break the awkward silence.
The Oomukade had not expected to be asked such a thing and jumped a little bit.
"I, err, that is, uhh, C-Carlos is a little... upset... I think?"
Carlos? Oh, yes, the man who was married to Giselle, the Dark Elf. He was one of the men considered "too precious" to join the raids.
"Carlos is a slave, right?" Olivia asked suddenly.
"What? Where'd you get such a silly idea?" Willis wondered, though he did have a hunch. More than a hunch.
"I saw pictures in a book where an Anubutt was whipping some slaves, and they all had collars like he does!"
"Anu-BIS, sweetie, it's pronounced Anu-BIS"
"Anupiss?"
Oh dear.
"In any case, sweet thing, Carlos is not a slave. Nobody in the Lair is a slave"
Olivia tilted her head as a dog would.
"Then how come Auntie Giselle makes him wear a collar and whips him?"
Why did she even... well, whatever. It's not like anyone else kept their love life hidden from others, no reason why Giselle and Carlos should.
"That's just..." now how to explain this to a six-year-old?
"...just a game they play" he tried. It's not like he understood it that well himself.
"Is it fun?" Olivia asked.
"Y-yes..." Anisette muttered, and then everyone went quiet.
"S-sorry..."
"How would you know?" Willis demanded, throwing pieces of scorched, black, crispy stuff that used to be bread at her.
"I just... once or, or maybe twice, no, uh, sometimes, I've, when they asked..."
He'd had just about enough of this.
"Anisette, why don't you clear the table and scuttle off to..." now what did he need? Giving orders still didn't come all that naturally to him. You needed to think before giving orders. Dammit.

"...to keep Carlos company or, or whatever it is he needs"
Well played.
Anisette made a curtsy, cleaned the table and scuttled off.
"Daddy?"
"Yes oh sweet child of mine?"
Giggles.
"D-Dhaddy?"
"Yes sugarplum?"
More giggles.
"Daddy!"
"Yes snugglewuggle?"
There was no giggling this time.
"Stop holding your breath dear"
Olivia continued to restrain her giggles by holding her breath.
"Ollie? No."
She didn't give in.
"Ollie, bad. Breathe, dammit!"
She didn't. Oh dear.
"If you won't do it when asked, I'll use force. That's an... ULTIMATUM!"
Willis placed great emphasis on that last word, as it was a big word, and might cause hysteria after a pause. But Olivia held on to her breath.
"You asked for this..."
Strong fingers were upon Olivia's unprotected sides, digging in her sides, finding spaces between her ribs.
Olivia's tail waved from side to side. Her wings flapped. She was helpless against the tickles.
And then flames erupted from her mouth.
Willis dodged the breath of fire by rolling behind her and kept tickling as she began to laugh uncontrollably.

After that problem had been solved and Olivia had returned to breathing normally, Willis put his feet on the table.
"Daddy, don't do that!"
"Hm? Why not?"
"Mommy doesn't like it!"
"Mommy's not here, is she?"
"N-no. But she still doesn't like it!"
"Well I am here, and I do like it. And I'm in charge, because I'm bigger than you, and know all your weak spots"
"Hmph"
"No pouting, or else!"
Olivia tried her hardest not to look pouty.
"Did you want to talk about something?" Willis asked, remembering how this whole affair had started.
Olivia perked up.
"Yeah"
"Yes?"
"What?"
"What did you want to talk about?"
"Mmm"
"Ollie..."
"Mmm..."
"Please?"
"Mm..."
"Pretty please?"
"M..."
"Pretty please with sugar on top?"
"Okay..."
Willis swung his feet off the table and onto his divan so he could slide a little closer to his daughter, who was being uncharacteristically shy about this.
"Umm..."
No interruption.
"Like... you know how Uncle Carlos and all the other uncles, they got here when Mommy and the Aunties go raiding, right?"
There was a time, not too many months ago, when she would have said "waiding". Ah, right. Answer her.
"Yes?"
"Well... did you?"
"Did I what?"
"Get brought here when Mommy and the Aunties went raiding?"
"Oh, of course not. When Mommy and I met, there were no Aunties"
"Then who lived in the Lair?"
"There was no Lair"
"Eh? Then you lived alone in the Hoard?"
"There was no Hoard either"
"J-just the Valley?"
"No dearie, there was no... wait, that's not right. The Valley was here, but we weren't"
Olivia made that head-tilt of hers again.
"Then... where were you?"
Ah.
"Daddy?"
"Hm?"
"Where?"
"I..."
"Daddy?"
"Hm"
"Daddy!"
"Alright, alright"

Willis scooped over to Olivia's divan and threw and arm around her, pulling her down to lie down with him.
"Get comfy, this is going to be... a long story. A story of how your mother and I met and came to live here"
"Yay! Storytime is the best!"
"This isn't like those stories with handsome princes getting snatched up by lovelorn Dragons though"
"Daddy's handsome!"
"Thank you dearie, but I'm not a prince"
"A knight?"
"No"
"A bishie?"
"That's 'bishop', and no, I wasn't one of those, either"
"Hmm... then you were... uuuhhh..."
"A peon"
Olivia had a giggling fit.
"Daddy, they used to pee on you?"
"No dear, that's not what that word means"
Olivia wrapped her tail around his arm.
"It's okay Daddy. Auntie Giselle pees on Carlos lots, too"
"Peon doesn't mean that" Willis grumbled.
"Suuure~"
She obviously didn't believe him.
"A peon is like a peasant, but more like a slave" Willis tried to explain, lacking the needed lingo to properly explain the matter.
"Pheasants are birds" Olivia replied.
"Yes they are, but a peasant and a pheasant are two completely different..."
"AHAHAHA! GOTCHA!"
"Mm. Yes, quite"
"Aww, don't pout Daddy!"
Olivia gave his chin a kiss.
"Eww, you're all sharp!"
"Hm? You mean the stubble?"
"Yeah! It's scratchy!"
Willis decided it was time for some payback and rubbed his chin all over the parts of Olivia's cheeks that weren't covered in scales. She giggled in-between her protests.
"There, now behave yourself. As I was saying, I was a peon"
He paused.
"...and that doesn't mean anyone peed on you"
"Good girl. I was a peon, and that means I had to live where I was told to, do what I was told to, and thank the people who told me to whenever I saw them. I was... an orphan. You know what that means, right?"
"It means your parents died?"
"Or that I was abandoned"
"What?"
"That means they left me because they didn't want me"
"That doesn't make any sense. They were your mommy and daddy, right? That means they loved you!"
"That's not what it means, Ollie"
She stiffened up.
"You mean... you and Mommy don't..."
"Don't be silly, Ollie. Of course we love you. But just because parents have a child, they might not necessarily care for it. Another possibility, of course, is that they were simply too poor to care for me and abandoned me because of that"
"How could they be too poor to care for you? That doesn't make any sense!"
"A lot of stuff in the outside world doesn't make much sense. Like I said, get comfy. This is going to take a while.