How to find a growing Sprout? Think with your stomach...

​ “Too bad this place is so far away from the house,” mumbles Sprout as he is halfway to the Sugar Plum Bakery.  “It takes so long to walk here that by the time I get back home, I am hungry again.”  Strolling through the bushes, thinking about those sweet muffins he will shortly be eating, he starts singing a little ditty about sweets.  He decides to take a shortcut that he has used many times hoping to get to the bakery that much quicker. As Sprout approaches the edge of the brambles, just before the bakery, a loud noise catches his attention.

​“Growwwlll…”

​“Who’s there?” he stammered.  With only hearing another loud growl, he slowly starts to back away from the bushes.  Just then a long snout pokes out!  It was a long purplish nose that had two dark eyes above it looking back at him.  Stumbling as he continued moving backward, Sprout glanced down and also saw some very large feet sticking out of the bushes.  This was definitely not a tree or anything he had ever seen before!

​Just as Sprout was ready to scream and run away, the purple nose pushed through the bush and Sprout found out that it was attached to a Dragon.  A Dragon that was licking its lips.  “I’m Hungry,” the Dragon told him.  At this moment, Sprout decided this would be a really good time to run like the wind.

​Now, keep in mind that Sprout had not been told about the Dragon that everyone was looking for, so he was not too happy to find a Dragon standing in front of him, especially one that was licking its lips. 

​Hungry continued, “Do you think they would share some of those delicious smelling cakes you were singing about?”  Now this surprised Sprout, first a talking Dragon, but secondly, one who was wanting the same thing he wanted.  “You are not going to eat me?” asked Sprout.

​“Do you taste good?” answered Hungry.  “I normally don’t like green food.  I would rather try some of the delicious smelling treats instead.”

​“I have never thought about if I taste good or not.  I don’t think I do, so, let’s get some of the Sugar Plum Muffins instead,” he told the Dragon.  “By the way, my name is Sprout.  What’s yours?”

​“I am Hungry.  You remind me of a friend of mine.  Do you know Meen?  I was with her before the Shadow King sent me with a Nytemare to find my teacher here in the Shadows’ Realm.  I got hungry on the way and somehow lost my guide.”  As Hungry’s stomach grumbled some more, louder than before this time, Sprout was starting to realize that maybe he had found someone who had a sweet tooth as big as his.

​“Let’s get some muffins and you can tell me more about your travels here.  Maybe Meen will come by while we are at the bakery.  Sometimes we meet there before we go out for some fun,” Sprout told the Dragon as they started off to the bakery.

A little while later as the two of them walked down the trail away from the bakery.
​​“… as I was saying before," Hungry continued his tale, "then the King sent Meen on an errand and I have not seen her since.  Scarlet showed me that Nytemares have shoes and then the King told me that he was going to send me to a teacher and that I could keep my pillow, which I lost in the woods,” Hungry explained to Sprout as he smacked his lips while eating the muffins from the bakery.  “By the way, where are we going to now?” asked Hungry 

​“It’s getting close to dinner time.  I am taking you to my home to see if dinner is ready and I am sure that mom would like to meet you.  Maybe she can help you find your teacher,” answered Sprout.

​“And maybe help me find my pillow?  I really miss it…”