Disclaimer: Don't own the Spyro games, nor any of their characters.

Rating: T

For reference, this fic goes along with the Reignited Trilogy designs (and voices), rather than the original games'.

Avalar

"Here we go" Elora said, bending her legs just a little further. "Yaah!"

Her jump payed off, as she reached the tree's lower branches and easily pulled herself up, chuckling as she began to gather the fruits. Good thing she'd brought a big bag, as there were a dozen just waiting to be served up; they'd make an excellent juice for the upcoming festival.

She'd just about filled the bag halfway when she considered the last fruits, and then the ones on the next-over tree... hmm.

Before she could think about it: "You know, it'd be much easier for me to knock those fruits down."

Surprised, Elora looked down- she soon grinned. "Spryo!" she called, waving. "You finally came over for a visit!"

"Of course" he said easily, motioning back toward the entrance. "I meant to come sooner, but we had to get all the baby dragons settled in. Now that I'm here though, Elora, why are you up in that tree?"

"I'm gathering food for our festival; you're just in time" she said easily - this was perfect timing! "If you wanna help, you can go ahead and knock down the fruit in that tree over there."

"Consider it done! Hehehe, it'll be good practice in case any other bad guys show up later."

He couldn't know how much she admired that cocky edge in his voice- for those first few seconds, she watched with a smile as he charged head-first into the tree. The impact shook it to it's core, and at least a third of the fruit fell down to the ground - chuckling, she turned to get the last of her fruits, and each time she got one, another loud THUMP rang through the air.

"You know, it's surprising how hard-headed you are" Elora called down as she jumped down, playful. "I guess dragons have thick skulls."

"Ha-ha-ha" Spyro said, turning with a little eyeroll, but also knowing. "Even if it's true, I know what you're really getting at, Elora. Anyway, heads up!"

Just like that, aiming carefully, he slapped one fruit with his tail and sending it sailing toward her; surprised, she quickly opened the bag, and inside it went.

"Wow, nice shot Spyro" she cheered, chuckling. "Think you can get ten-in-a-row?"

He grinned, excited as he wriggled his tail in preparation. "Let's find out!"

Naturally, after one short failed streak, he got it without even trying- he made it look so easy too, but that's how he rolled, and she'd been enjoying herself anyway. The same couldn't be said for the twenty-in-a-row challenge though, because the bag was full partway into the third attempt; almost bad timing, of sorts, but what could you do?

"Rats" Spyro said afterward, shaking his head, though he soon smiled. "Next time, I'm winning that second challenge for sure."

Bag slung over her shoulder, Elora giggled once. "Oh, for sure" she said, completely knowing- however, then she noticed: "Hmm? Hey, where's Sparx?"

"Still hanging with the baby dragons" Spyro said easily, before knowingly shaking his head. "You wouldn't believe how much attention they need. Anyway, he said for me to go on; he can catch up later."

Inwardly, she was already thanking Sparx for this, even if there was no actual intention of having them hang out alone. "That's too bad, really" she admitted, but quite happy. "This festival is going to be quite the feast, with all manner of dancing and whatnot."

"Dinner and a show? Sign me up for that!"

"Hehe! Of course you were invited, Spyro."

/

During festival time, she always had fun, but this time it was even better with Spyro as a guest.

Dancing in tune to the music with several other fauns, all with a big grin on her face, Elora kept sneaking peeks at Spyro. Sometimes he would be snacking on a sheep or something (as usual), but quite often she found one of his feet tapping along with the music, and aside from a smile at having fun, she was pretty sure he kept watching her dance.

And also everyone dancing in general, or his friends - including Sheila, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley, and Agent 9, though Hunter and Bianca had other plans - enjoying themselves, but still.

Later: "Come on, Spyro!" she called over, waving. "Join the fun!"

"Wha?" he asked, briefly jerking his head in surprise. "But I don't know how to dance to what you're doing, Elora."

Elora laughed. "You don't have to know! Just come up and do your own thing! In fact, I'd like to see a few dragon dances! Or are you too scared?"

That tease got him; with a knowing 'I'm gonna get you for that!' chuckle, Spyro got up and stretched, then bounded on over toward her (other dancers quickly made room). "Well, I've seen this one in books - called the 'Dragon Circle' - but it usually ends with us dragons locking horns. You don't want that, Elora" he said with ease, to which she knowingly grinned, eyebrow raised. "Anyway, we circle around each other, sometimes by walking, sometimes by jumping. But instead of the horn thing, let's do something else: whoever bumps the other first 'wins'."

"And that person gets to lead the other, anyway they want, with any dance moves they choose" she said, thoroughly enjoying this; she made a small bow, complete with appropriate gestures, even as her tail shook twice. "Do you accept this challenge, and this dance, Spyro?"

When Spyro briefly stalled - caught somewhere between 'indignation' at her challenge, and a kinda sheepish-awkwardness at 'this dance' - it took a lot of effort not to grin.

On the outside.

Then he laughed, clearly affected by her playful overtones; Spyro soon smirked, not just in confidence but enjoyment. "Oh it's so on, Elora" he said, wriggling his tail in anticipation.

The game was afoot, with Spyro trying to move toward her right side, but she kept to the left and made sure he could never flank her. The entire time, she kept her upper body poised, ready for any sudden motions - Spyro was the exact same, deftly moving on all four claws but poised to charge, if thankfully not literally. He was first to feint her, by suddenly bringing one paw forward-then-back, but she merely raised an eyebrow and smirked; it wouldn't be that easy. Next she tried to paw one foot, making him think she was gonna charge like a bull, but he soon reacted by making a short jump in place, almost like a ground-level hover- had to admit, he almost got her there.

Almost.

Finally, she did this rapid twitching with her ears, the likes of which she could do without thinking- his eyes glanced up, ever-so-slightly.

"Haha!"

Perhaps it was the surprise of her yell, plus the surprise of her sudden movement, but Spyro was a hair too slow: literally just as he jumped to the left, she reached forward and managed to brush his flank with her hand.

Among the general festivities, a cheer went up as other dancers saw her win this round; Spyro looked at his flank, as if to make sure she'd really gotten him.

"Looks like I win that round of Dragon Circling, Spyro" she said, if softer now. "And I say you're to learn our festival dance."

He let out a breath, and a brief eye-roll, but both were far more friendly-knowing than actual annoyed.

"You got me, Elora. Hehe; those were some pretty good moves" he acknowledged, approving now. "But after I've learned your dance, let's go for best two-of-three."

"It would be my pleasure."

...

Somewhat later

Ahh, finally the dancing's over, and he can relax.

Don't get him wrong; he had enjoyed himself at this festival, including with the dancing, but he wasn't sure the latter was simply his thing. 'Course, even if it weren't, it certainly wasn't all-bad either - Elora had really pushed him with that challenge, and it had been pretty fun to do the Dragon Circle with her, even without the locking-horns thing.

Wonder if maybe they might be- nah, shouldn't be thinking about that.

"So, looks like you had fun, Spyro."

He looked over at Elora, who sat down beside him, two drinks in hand- she had wanted to 'get away' from everyone for a little, and he'd been happy to oblige. Right now no one else could see them, and they simply had the night sky and all this beautiful grass as company, if you could call it that.

And by the way, she was certainly comfortable beside him, laying on her side with her legs arranged just so.

"'Course I did, Elora" Spryo said, even as she slid one drink over to him; he welcomed it. "It was a heck of a lot of fun. Never thought I'd have to dance so much, or discover I'm as good at it as I was - even if it's not my thing - but that was still fine. I only feel bad that Sparx missed all this; what could've been keeping him?"

She slowly shrugged, smiling. "I have no idea" Elora admitted, sipping her drink. "But hey, at least you got some good practice."

"For what?" he asked, curious.

Her voice turned teasing. "Why, in case you dance with someone you love later" she said; he nearly groaned, just by instinct. "What? People do that, and I'm sure dragons do too, Spyro."

"Yeah, I know they do, but-"

"Oh yeah, I forgot" Elora said then, still teasing - then her voice changed, and he soon realized she was imitating him. "You're Mr. "Another noble warrior falls victim to the plague of love", aren't you."

Spyro supposed he wasn't surprised, seeing as she'd showed up shortly after he said that...

"Got a problem with it, Elora?" he asked, though his question had no real bite (literally or otherwise).

For a moment or two, she simply took another sip of her drink- because of this though, he couldn't notice how her lip's curve had changed, however briefly.

"I wouldn't exactly say that, Spyro" she breathed, sincere. "Just that it seems weird, you know? Like you've got a real problem with love."

"Not as far as being a 'real problem', no" Spyro said, before sighing. "I mean, I'm no idiot. Love is a thing, people do it, and it's all 'good' and mushy and stuff. I'll probably fall victim to it sooner or later... but until that day, probably when I'm much older, I'd rather just go on adventures and kick enemy butt, and just not have to deal with something complicated like love. Is that really so weird?"

When Elora looked at him, she had this curious, definitely-softer 'quality' to her gaze; he wasn't sure he got what it was.

Only that it made him feel weird... but a good kind of weird; he wouldn't mind seeing more of that expression.

Definitely not.

"Is that Spyro talk for "I'm kinda nervous about feeling love", or am I just hearing things?" she asked, a bit closer and quite teasing.

"U-Uhh" was all that came out of his mouth, until he shook his head; what is he doing? "Nervous? Of course not! I could handle it if I really wanted to!"

To that, she only giggled, pulling back and downing the rest of her drink. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter anyway" Elora said, still softer. "As you said, you're just not interested in love right now. Maybe one day, but not today."

"...Yeah. That should've been obvious."

Just then, she leaned toward him again- before he could wonder what she's doing, Elora kissed him on the top of his head.

While surprised, he definitely didn't mind that.

"All things considered, that's fair" Elora said then, standing up away from him- Spyro noticed her tail was moving, repeatedly, and wondered if he should ask. "I myself am still young, so I'm not expected to find love, at least not yet. Although, I wouldn't be opposed at all if it did happen, Spyro."

After a moment: "Sure. Right" he said, slower before he tried to change the subject. "But Elora, why did you just kiss my head?"

She half-turned, expression nothing short of mischievous, arms folded behind her back- strangely, he found he couldn't look away from her expression.

"That was a 'thank you', Spyro" she said, gentle. "For making today's festival so much fun, and for us getting to hang out again, getting to know more about each other. Maybe next time, I can visit you in the Dragon Worlds."

After a moment, Spyro found himself smiling; she really was something, and certainly full of energy.

He's glad to have met her along with all the others, and he certainly wouldn't mind more 'fun' like they had today, so long as dancing wasn't a regular thing.

"Just make sure it's soon, Elora. I still have that second fruit-tossing challenge to win" he said like normal, before he chuckled. "And of course, to have other kinds of fun too, together."

She grinned, tail wagging. "I wouldn't miss that for all the realms."

"Sweet."

The teases are real, especially on Elora's part- once Spyro grows up, he'll probably be smitten, assuming he isn't already and just doesn't know it yet :P