The Keeper and the Listener.

    The Keeper and the Listener.                Chapter 1

“Cicero!” I screamed at the fool who was slicing the air, not noticing that the dragon had already taken flight to a field nearby.
He whirled around to face me. “Listener has no need to worry for poor Cicero! Cicero can take care of himself!” Then he turned around, noticed the dragon wasn't there anymore, and ran after it.
“CICERO!” I stomped my foot and ran after him, angry at his disobedience. I mean, he doesn't have to be obedient and loyal, he does that all on his own, but I've become used to it and him not listening to my commands caused much confusion.
I finally caught up with him and, grabbing his shoulders, pulled under the safety of a rock.
“Listener! Cicero said he could take care of himself!” Cicero looked at me with a very upset look on his face.
“And I told you not to run after the dragon! Plain and simple!”
“But Listener said that Cicero needed practice fighting dragons. Is now not the perfect opportunity to do so?” Cicero was obviously very irritated. Even though his statement may have come across to some as confused, I knew my jester, and he was getting very annoyed.
“Well, yeah but-“
“No. Listener said Cicero needed practice and here is the perfect time for him to get some. I promise you, Cicero will be fine.” He gave me a reassuring look. It was not reassuring.
“Cicero, I do want you to learn to fight dragons, but not here and not now. I want you to practice against a fake dragon. Not a real one.” I said this as calmly as possible, but I was quickly losing my patience.
“But Listener-“
“OK, you want to learn how to fight dragons? Well there are some very basic rules that everyone has to know.”
“And what might those be, oh great and powerful Listener?” Usually Cicero said this as a compliment, but this time the fool had a mocking tone to his voice. My patience had run out.
“Well first of all… YOU DON’T ATTACK THE DRAGON NEAR THE HEAD! YOUR GOING TO GET YOURSELF KILLED YOU IDIOT! DRAGONS BREATH FIRE! AND HAVE YOU NOTICED THEIR TEETH! YOUR GOING TO GET YOURSELF BURNED ALIVE OR EATEN! BY SITHIS, CAN’T YOU DO ANYTHING RIGHT?!”
Cicero’s look of annoyance had quickly turned to shock. He looked down at the ground.
“Cicero is sorry. Listener is right. Maybe Listener would be better off without clumsy Cicero.” He had a look of sorrow on his face.
I immediately felt bad.  “No Cicero, I’m sorry. I wouldn't be better off without you. It’s just- well, I've lost a lot of other friends to dragons, and I don’t want to lose another. I’m sorry.” I leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the forehead.
“It’s OK, Listener.” Was he blushing? “What are we going to do about the dragon?”
My attention quickly turned away from whatever color his cheeks might be and turned back to the matter at hand. “Well,” I said “I think we have a dragon to kill.”