The pressure was firm on her back but not painful. She pushed her hands into the muddy ground and shoved back. Twigs and branches curled around her, flipping her over effortlessly. Sophraea blinked at the long and definitely draconic face looming above her. “Let me up!” she commanded. The creature curled up its long neck and twisted its head to one side. Large and leafy ears waggled back and forth. Sophraea found herself staring into a bright red berry eye. “Go on,” she said in as firm a voice as possible when sprawled on the ground and pinned down by a bush. “Get off me!” The eye blinked but the paw did not shift and she was held fast by the creature. “Please!” The nostrils twitched and the head dropped. Long slender vines sprouting on either side of its mouth tickled under her chin. “Oh, how perfectly ridiculous,” said Sophraea, recognizing this gesture as something similar to the way that the baker’s dog begged to have its ears scratched. “You’re a very nice bush, a good shrub,”
