hrrk hrrk. hrrRUKKKK.

Isabella rolled over. Whahuh? she thought.

hrrk hrrRUKKKK. HRRRUKKKKRRRRR.

Not again, Isabella thought, sitting up. The room was very dark. Beside her on the sleeping mat, Mama was stirring. To-Ho-Ne still snored. Isabella reached over—where’s Ali?

nnnnnrrrrrrrrreeeEEEEEEEHRRRUKKK the little dragon went again.

“Bella,” Mama said, struggling to sit up. 

“Yes, Mama,” Isabella said, getting to her feet and crossing the room. The dragon’s metal box rattled thamathamathamatham against the floor. “She’s sick again, Mama,” Isabella said. “I need some light.”

“Coming,” Mama said, getting up. “The lamp went out,” she said, fumbling around the table. Behind her, To-Ho-Ne snorted, jerked her head, sat up. 

“What is it, Princess?” the old Diheneh woman asked. 

“The dragon’s having a spell again,” Isabella said. “And she’s spewing out, too. I can smell it.” Ugh. Where’s Ali? 

“Wait, wait,” Mama said. “Just a moment—there.” She lit the kerosene lamp, brought it over. Isabella pulled the top off the box they had found for the dragon. The dragon was lying on its back, neck thrashing, body shaking, legs out stiff, claws trembling. Yellowy-white vomit trickled from its mouth and joined the pool at the bottom of the box. Blackish-brown wet stool spattered the sides of the box; in its seizure, the dragon had messed its home.  

“Ugh,” Isabella said. “Now we have clean up this little monster again.” 

“To-Ho-Ne—” Mama began.

“More medicine, yes,” To-Ho-Ne said. “Bella, help me up.”

The door opened and Alijandra—squinting—and Jack—panting—came inside. “What’s going on?” Alijandra asked. She had one of her hands behind her back.

“Your stupid dragon is sick again,” Isabella said, going back to the sleeping mat. She held out her hands for the old woman. “Where were you?” Isabella demanded, leaning back and pulling To-Ho-Ne off the floor. “What were you doing outside at this time of night? Are you stupid or just crazy?”

“I was passing water,” Alijandra replied. “Don’t call me ‘stupid.’ Don’t call Pearl ‘stupid,’ either.”

“Stop it, you two!” Mama said. “Ali, bring me some rags. Bella, get some water. Now!”

“Yes, Mama,” the girls murmured. Alijandra went into the larder and came back a few moments later with a rag. Isabella brought her mother a clay jar of water. To-Ho-Ne ripped up tufts of herbs and grasses and wadded them into a small bundle. 

“Let me have those,” Mama told Alijandra, taking the rags. She wrapped them around her hands, reached into the box, and gently took hold of the twitching, thrashing dragon. “Easy, easy,” she whispered. The dragon’s claws latched onto the rags; its neck lashed from side to side, jaws snapping; its tail beat furiously against the metal box—thamathamathamatham. And then suddenly, the dragon went limp and lay still. 

“She’s done,” Mama said. “She’s done. The seizure is over.” 

Hrr hrr hrr gasped the dragon.

“Quickly, while she’s calm,” Mama said. She unwrapped one rag and set it on the floor. Then she lifted the dragon out of the box and set it on the rag. “I’ll need more rags,” she said.

“I’ll get them, Mama,” Isabella said.

“No! I will!” Alijandra blurted, dashing for the larder. 

“Bella, I need your help,” Mama said. 

“All right,” she said, kneeling on the floor beside Mama. “What do you need me to do?” 

“We need to clean up the dragon,” Mama said. “Thank you,” she told Alijandra, who was back from the larder with more rags.  

“Is she all right?” Alijandra asked.

“I think so,” Mama replied. 

“Here it is,” To-Ho-Ne said, squatting down next to them and holding out the wad of medicine. 

“Let’s clean her first,” Mama said. She dipped a rag into the jar of water and gently began to wipe away the vomit and feces. Ugh, Isabella thought. She glared at Alijandra for a moment, then took up a rag and started to do the same.

They wiped, found a clean spot on the rag, dipped it in the jar, wiped again, found another clean spot, and so on. After several minutes—and several very soiled rags—they were finished. “It still smells,” Isabella grumbled. 

“You’ll need to clean out the box,” Mama said. 

“Can’t Ali do it?” Isabella asked. “It’s her stupid dragon. I didn’t want to bring the stupid thing home in the first place.”

“It is not Ali’s dragon,” Mama replied. “And when I ask you to do something, Isa—”

“I hate this!” Isabella jumped to her feet. “Every night, that stupid thing wakes up screaming and it messes itself and we have to clean it up and it’s always making that awful whining sound and every time I try to feed it something, it snaps at me and I wish it would just hurry up and die!” Isabella whirled and stabbed the air in front of her sister’s face. “And she never has to do anything!”

 “Isabella,” Mama said quietly, still kneeling by the dragon.

“No, I’m not going to—”

“Isabella,” Mama said, even more quietly. 

The house was silent for a moment. Lying by the door, Jack looked at each of their faces in turn. 

“Isabella, you’re tired,” Mama said. “We’re all tired. I don’t like this situation any more than you do. But we can’t let this get the better of us. We have to be strong. And part of being strong is not giving in to the part of us that wants to say and do things we’ll regret later. Do you understand?”

Isabella nodded.

“I’ll clean the box, Princess,” To-Ho-Ne offered. 

“No, I’ll do it,” Isabella said. “You need to give the dragon its medicine.”

“I’ll help,” Alijandra said. “I’ll help you clean out the box. She’s my dragon.”

“She’s not your dragon,” Isabella said. She handed the water jar to Alijandra, then gave her the last clean rag. “Come on,” she said, picking up the box and heading for the door.

It was cold outside, and very dark: neither moon was up. Isabella put the box down under the spigot and started to pump the well’s handle. “What are you hiding in the larder?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Alijandra said. “I—nothing.”

“You had something in your hand when you came inside,” Isabella said. “You hid it behind your back, and then you went in the larder, and when you came back, the thing was gone. So what did you put there?”

“Nothing,” Alijandra insisted. “I had to pass water, so—”

“You never have to pass water in the middle of the night,” Isabella told her. “Stop lying to me. Or should I just tell Mama that you’re hiding something in the larder?”

“I—an egg,” Alijandra confessed. “I was getting Pearl an egg from our hens.”

“And when did you start doing that?”

“I don’t know,” Alijandra said. “A few days ago.”

“So that’s why we haven’t had any eggs for a week.” A trickle of water came out of the spigot, then a splash, then a stream. Isabella let it fill up the bucket. When it was full, Isabella said, “You’re going to clean this out by yourself.”

“Mama told you to clean it,” Alijandra protested.

“Mama told you that you couldn’t give the dragon any eggs,” Isabella reminded her. “Do you want me to tell her what you’ve been doing?”

Alijandra shook her head.

“All right, then,” Isabella said, crossing her arms and leaning against the side of the house. 

Alijandra didn’t say anything as she plunged the rag into the icy well water and swished it around the sides of the box, swabbing off the mess. After a minute or so, she asked, “Is this good enough?”

“I can’t tell: it’s too dark” Isabella said. “I suppose it’s good enough.” She tipped over the box, dumping out the water. Then she starting pumping the handle of the well again. “Come here and rinse off that rag,” she told her sister. “And wash your hands, too.”

Alijandra did as she was told. “Bella, Pearl’s not getting better.”

“Yes, she is,” Isabella said. “A little. At least she’s eating now.”

“Just the eggs I bring her.”

“No,” Isabella said. “She ate some bits of ham yesterday. Little monster tried to bite me, too,” she added.

“She doesn’t like you yet, but she will,” Alijandra promised. 

“Well, I don’t like her, and won’t ever like her, so she shouldn’t bother trying to like me,” Isabella said. 

“She’s really sweet right after she eats,” Alijandra said. “Sometimes, after she finishes her egg, I stroke her head, right in between her eyes. She likes that.”

“She’s not getting any more eggs,” Isabella said. “Those eggs are for us.”

“But she likes them.”

“Maybe I should tell Mama,” Isabella suggested. “Maybe she’d have something to say.”

“Why are so mean, all of a sudden?” Alijandra voice was tight. Even in the dark, Isabella could tell her sister was close to tears. 

“I’m sorry,” Isabella sighed. “Mama’s right: I’m—I’m just tired. I need to go back to sleep.” She hugged Alijandra. 

Alijandra buried her face in her sister’s nightgown. Then she said, “She’s not getting better.”

“Not much, no,” Isabella admitted.

“It scares me when she gets sick like this,” Alijandra said. 

“Me, too,” Isabella said. “I don’t know if the poison in her is getting worse, or if the medicine we’re giving her is making her sick.”

“We should give her different medicine,” Alijandra said. “What about the horsetails? You said that if she didn’t get better, we’d go to the stream and get horsetails.”

“Ali, Mama won’t let us do that.”

“You said that if she wouldn’t let us go, we’d go anyway.”

“Ali…”

“You did!” Alijandra insisted. “That’s what you said.”

Isabella sighed. How did I know she was going to remember that? she asked herself. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, I said that.”

“Did you mean it? Or were you just lying?” Alijandra demanded.

“I meant it,” Isabella said. “But right now, we’re going back to sleep. Bring the rag and the box. We have to put Pearl back in it.”
 
 

“That way, I think,” Isabella said. 

“Let’s go!” Alijandra cried, running ahead. Jack sprang after her. “Come on!”

“Stop running, you fools,” Isabella said. “It’s a long way to go, and you’ll tire yourself out, and I’m not carrying you back.”

The morning was warm already. The girls had gotten up, dressed and eaten quickly, checked on the dragon, then gone outside. Surprisingly, Mama hadn’t had any chores for them, so they had told her that they were going to look for berries. Unbidden, Jack had fallen in step behind them. 

“We shouldn’t have lied to Mama,” Isabella said.

“Lied about what?” Alijandra asked.

“Looking for berries.”

“We’ll look for berries on the way back,” Alijandra said, “so we’re not lying.”

“You’re sneaky,” Isabella said. 

“No, I’m not,” Alijandra said.

“Did you put the egg back in the coop, like I told you to?”

“Yes,” Alijandra replied. She rolled her eyes.

“Don’t do that. It doesn’t look nice.”

“You do that all the time.”

“Be quiet.”

“I wonder if Leonor is around.” Alijandra cupped her hands and shouted, “LEONOR!” Jack flinched.

“Stop it,” Isabella said. “You’re scaring Jack, and you can’t call a spider. And Mama might hear and wonder why we’re so far from the house.”

“Sorry,” Alijandra said.

She and Alijandra walked quickly. Jack, grinning, tongue flapping, padded along beside them, tail curved over his back. Isabella remembered that the stream lay west of their house, so they kept the sun behind them as they walked. Every once in a while, they took big swigs from the pitch-covered water basket that Isabella had brought.

When the sun was right overhead, they came to the stream and sat down under the trees and pulled off their sandals and put their feet in the cool water.

“My feet are sore,” Alijandra said. Beside her, Jack waded into the stream and began lapping water with greedy pooshpooshpooshpoosh noises.   

“I told you it’s a long way,” Isabella said.

“Maybe we’ll see some of those fish,” Alijandra said, “like we did last time. The ones that nibble and tickle you.”

“We’re here to get horsetails,” Isabella reminded her. “To-Ho-Ne said they were tall and skinny…” 

“And the stems are like little green blocks stacked on top of each other,” Alijandra added. “And the tops are white and look like rattlesnake rattles.”

“I’m glad you remembered all that,” Isabella said. She pointed to the opposite side of the stream. “Don’t you think those look like them?”

Alijandra put her sandals back on and splashed across the stream—the water, even in the middle, no deeper than her knee—to the opposite side. She spent a few moments considering the plants growing there. “I think so,” she said. 

“Well, then, let’s pick them.” The girls went to work, pulling up eight horsetail plants.

“What about the rest?” Alijandra asked.

“We’ll leave them here, in case we need more later,” Isabella told her.

They waded back. Jack—wet from the neck down—was lying, paws crossed, in the dust beside the stream. The girls laid the plucked horsetails next to him and sat on large rocks by the water’s edge and dangled their feet. Alijandra peered into the water.

“What are you doing?” Isabella demanded.

“I’m looking for the little fish.”

“Ali, forget about the fish.”

“Maybe Pearl likes fish. Maybe we can catch some for her.”

“We need to head back soon,” Isabella told her. “I’m sure Mama is wondering where we are.” She crossed her arms. “We’re going to get in trouble. I just know it. We shouldn’t have come out here. Mama told us not to.”

“But Pearl needed medicine,” Alijandra protested. “And besides, we could get her some fish.”

“We don’t have anything to cat—”

“There’s one!” Alijandra exclaimed, pointing. “And another! And another! Help me catch them!” Alijandra sprang into the stream, her little brown hands grabbing fistfuls of nothing. Jack laid his head on his paws and watched her. 

“You can’t catch fish with your hands,” Isabella said. “They’re too fast.”

“Nothing’s faster than me! I’ll catch some,” Alijandra said, lunging again—“and I’ll bring them home for Pearl,” —she added, opening her hands to find them merely wet—“and she’ll be so happy.”

“Stop it,” Isabella said. “You look ridiculous. Besides, even if you caught a fish, we don’t have any way to take it home. You’d have to carry it the whole way in your hand—”

“I don’t care,” Alijandra said. 

“—and it would be dead and it would dry up and it would start to stink.” Isabella slipped on her sandals. Jack raised his head, looked at her, hauled himself to his feet. “Now, come on,” she said. She bent and picked up the horsetails. As she straightened, she looked west and saw someone coming towards them. Her long-distance vision was fuzzy, but it looked like a man in a hat.

“Ali, come out—” Isabella began, but her sister had seen the man, too. 

“Papa!” she exclaimed. She waded out of the stream and started running towards the man. Jack perked his ears, then launched himself after Alijandra, barking furiously, water flying as he bounded across the stream. In a heartbeat, he was in between the little girl and the man.

“That’s not Papa!” Isabella called, hustling after Alijandra. Snarling and snapping, Jack held his ground. The man stopped. 

“Hey there, Jack. You remember me, don’t you?” the man asked.

“You’re not Papa,” Alijandra said, slowing down and stopping beside Jack, who was smiling and wagging his tail. 

It was Daon Raul, the priest from Scorpion Tail. “Well, hello there, Alijandra. Hello there, Isabella. What are you two doing out here?” he asked. 

“We’re gathering horsetails for—” Isabella began.

“We have a dragon!” Alijandra exclaimed. “And her name is Pearl! And she’s green and she lives in a box in our house. We found her after the big storm and she’s hurt and she’s sick so we took her home and we’ve been trying to take care of her but she’s only gotten a little better so we came out here to look for horsetails for her because To-Ho-Ne can—”

Daon Raul held up his hands. “You know, I have eight children, and none of them talk nearly as quickly as you do, Alijandra,” he laughed. “How about you tell me again, a little bit more slowly this time?”

Alijandra told him how after the storm, they had gone out looking for their sheep and found the little dragon in the arroyo. How they had brought it home (and it had bitten Isabella, the older girl interjected) and cared for it. How they had tried to find things for the dragon to eat and how they had gathered plants to use as medicine. How the dragon had gotten a little better, but was still very weak and very ill, and so they had come to get horsetails so that To-Ho-Ne could make better medicine. Daon Raul took his bag off his shoulder and kicked off his sandals and sat with his feet in the stream as the girls told their story.

“Most peculiar,” he said, when they had finished. “Indeed.”

“We have to go home now,” Isabella said. “Mama will be expecting us.”

“I’m surprised that she would let you two come all the way out here, by yourselves,” Daon Raul said.

“We’re not by ourselves,” Alijandra protested. “We have Jack.” Lying next to Daon Raul, the dog looked up at the mention of his name.

“Actually, Mama doesn’t know we’re here,” Isabella admitted.

“Well, then, let’s not let her worry,” Daon Raul said, scratching the spot between Jack’s ears. He stood up, came out of the stream, and put his sandals back on. He slung his yucca-string bag over his shoulder.

“Can you help us catch some fish?” Alijandra asked.

“Fish?” Daon Raul asked.

“Ali—” Isabella said.

“Pearl hasn’t been eating much—she likes eggs, but that’s about all,” Alijandra said, “—and I thought maybe she might like some fish. Can you help us catch some, please?”

Daon Raul took off his straw hat, wiped his brow, and considered the idea. “Fish,” he said. “You mean there are fish in this little stream?”

Alijandra nodded. “They’re very small—about as small as my little finger,” she said, holding up her left one. “Can you?”

“Ali, we have to go home,” Isabella said. “Mama’s going to be angry, and—”

“It seems a shame to come all the way out here and not come back with some fish for the dragon,” Daon Raul said. “Let me see these fish.”

They stood still and silently on the bank for a minute, until Alijandra slowly pointed at some rocks. “There,” she whispered.

Daon Raul leaned over, squinting. He nodded. “Oh, yes, I see them,” he said. “They are very small.”

“Do you think you can catch some?” Alijandra asked. “They’re very fast.”

“I think so,” he said. He set down his bag, opened it, and took out a waterskin. He uncorked it and poured the water into the stream. 

“What are you doing?” Isabella asked. “You’ll need that.”

“I have another one in my bag,” Daon Raul explained. “I’ll be all right.” He took a chunk of cornbread from his bag, crumbled it, and dropped the crumbs into the waterskin.

“This is the hard part,” he said. He stepped into the stream, bent over, and held the open waterskin under the surface. Bubbles spilled from the waterskin, slowed, stopped. Daon Raul held still, hunched over.

“Wha—” Alijandra began, but Daon Raul slowly raised a finger to his lips and shook his head. 

Jack and the girls watched. After a few minutes, some of the tiny fish were swimming around Daon Raul’s calves as he stood, motionless, in the stream. One of the fish slipped inside the waterskin and came back out, gobbling down a soggy glob of cornbread. Its fellows noticed, and a few moments later, over a dozen of them had squirmed into the waterskin. Quickly, Daon Raul stood up, pulling the waterskin out of the stream.

“And that’s how you catch little fish,” he said.

“That’s great!” Alijandra beamed. “Now we have lots of them, and they can just stay in the waterskin until we get back home. They won’t die and they won’t get stinky and Pearl will love them. Thank you!” she said, throwing her arms around Daon Raul’s waist. “Thank you!”

“It was nothing,” he said. “A trick I learned as a boy, when I lived in a little fishing village by the sea. Here,” he told her. “You carry them.” He stooped and picked up his bag again.

“Are you coming with us?” Isabella asked.

“Yes, I am,” he replied. “Actually, I was on my way to your home, to check on you girls and your mother. Your father’s friend Ahiga likes to visit the trading post, even when he has nothing to trade. He said he had found a dead dragon—a big, dangerous one—near your house.”

“I found it,” Isabella said.

“We found it,” Alijandra corrected her. “You and me and Mama and To-Ho-Ne. And Jack.”   She rumpled the thick fur around the dog’s neck. “Actually, I think Jack saw the dragon before any of us. Remember?”

“I had been planning to go to Esmargga,” Daon Raul said. “When I heard about the dragon, I thought I would come by and make sure your family was all right. It’s not far out of my way. Come on. Let’s go.”

The four of them started walking back. “Why were you going to Esmargga—if you don’t mind my asking?” Isabella said.

“I heard that Friar Ismael has been called to Our Mother,” Daon Raul said. “I was going to pay my respects.”

“‘Called to Our Mother?’” Alijandra asked. Isabella elbowed her. 

“He’s died,” Daon Raul explained. “Friar Ismael ran the mission there. Now that he’s gone, I don’t know who will take his place.”

“That’s sad,” Alijandra said. She thought for a moment. “You should have seen the dead dragon, Daon Raul. He was disgusting. He smelled really bad, and all these bugs were crawling on him, and the vultures were—”

“Ali!” Isabella hissed.

“Sorry,” the little girl said. 

“It’s going to be late by the time we get back,” Isabella said.

“I’ll speak to your mother,” Daon Raul said. “It will be all right.”

The sun slowly slipped down behind them as they walked. Alijandra carried the waterskin with its fish for Pearl; Isabella carried the horsetails. They only stopped to rest once, and no one had said much of anything on the trip. 

By the time they got home, it was sunset. Mama was outside, taking laundry down from the trees, where she hung them to dry. “Mama!” Alijandra exclaimed, running to her. The little girl threw her arms around Mama’s waist. 

“Where were you?” Mama asked, stroking Alijandra’s hair. “You’ve been gone all day, and you didn’t come home for anything to eat. Are you all right? Are you—”

“We’re fine, Mama. Look who we found! Look who we found!” Alijandra said, pointing.

“Good evening, Mrs. Anerson,” Daon Raul said, tipping his hat. 

“Good evening, Daon Raul,” Mama said. “What an unexpected pleasure.”

“It’s my fault they are late coming home,” Daon Raul said. “I was on my way here and came across your daughters. We stopped to talk and lost track of time. Please forgive me.”

“Of course,” Mama said, embracing and kissing Isabella. “Of course. I’m just glad that they’re safe. What brings you out here?”  

“I had heard that a dead dragon was found nearby,” Daon Raul replied. “I wanted to make sure you were all right.”

“Yes, we are,” Mama said. To-Ho-Ne came out of the house. “To-Ho-Ne, it’s Daon Raul: set another place for supper.” 

“Yes, Princess,” the old Diheneh woman said, and went back inside. 

“I’d be grateful,” Daon Raul said. “May I come inside now?”

“Yes, of course,” Mama said. “Please come in and sit down. Just give me a moment to finish taking down the laundry,” she said. “Girls, go inside and help To-Ho-Ne with supper. Isabella, please get the daon some water.”

“You are very kind,” Daon Raul said. He and the girls went inside.

“To-Ho-Ne, we found horsetails,” Isabella said. “For the dragon. Can you make them into medicine for her?”

The old Diheneh woman took the plants from Isabella and considered them. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, these will be fine. Where did you find them?”

“I can’t tell you,” Isabella whispered. “I’d get in trouble if Mama knew.”

“I see,” she said, and smiled. “I won’t say anything.”

Meanwhile, Alijandra was kneeling by the dragon’s box, struggling to uncork the waterskin. She finally pulled opened it, the cork going PUUP! as it came out. Carefully, she poured out the water—and several tiny, wriggling fish—into the bowl beside the box. Then she took the lid off the box and gently tipped it over. “I got you something!” she told the dragon. “Come, look!”

Pearl looked at her, looked at the bowl. Slowly slunk forward. Sniffed the water. Lapped it with her tongue.

“Do you see the fish?” Alijandra asked.

The dragon looked past her, to where Daon Raul was sitting at the table. Pearl hissed.

“It’s all right,” Alijandra said. “That’s a friend of ours. He won’t hurt you.”

Pearl hissed again, but stayed by the bowl, her tiny white eyes shifting between Daon Raul and the fish swimming just a few inches away.

“So that’s the dragon,” Daon Raul said, quietly. “Interesting. I’ve never seen one that small. Is it a baby?”

“We don’t know,” Isabella said. 

“I think she’s a girl,” Alijandra said. “Her name is Pearl.”

“I’ve never seen a green pearl before,” Daon Raul said, smiling.

“Because of her eyes,” Alijandra insisted. “Her eyes are like little tiny pearls.”

“Ah. Of course,” Daon Raul said. 

Pearl put both front claws on the side of the bowl and leaned over. She stretched out her neck and held perfectly still. Suddenly, she struck like a snake, neck and head lashing out to snatch a fish from the water. She held it for a moment, the tiny fish’s tail thrashing between her open jaws. Then she swallowed it and the fish was gone.

“Was that good?” the little girl asked. “Have another. They’re for you.” Pearl leaned over the bowl again, her eyes following the fish.

Mama came in, and with To-Ho-Ne and Isabella, they finished making supper and setting the table. Alijandra and Daon Raul watched Pearl eat.

“Amazing,” Daon Raul said. “I’ve never seen any creature like this one. Are you sure it’s a dragon?”

“We think so,” Mama said. “We are keeping it until my husband comes home. He’ll know what it is. And what to do with it.” 

“What will you do with it?” Daon Raul asked.

“If it is worth anything to someone, I suppose my husband will sell it,” Mama replied. “Perhaps a nobleman will want it for a pet.”

“There are plenty of rich men who would want it just for a curiosity,” Daon Raul said. 

“We can’t sell Pearl,” Alijandra said. 

“Not now, no,” Mama said. “The dragon has been hurt, and it is sick. But if we can make it healthy again….”

“Pearl’s my friend, Mama,” Alijandra said. “We can’t give her away.”

“We will discuss this another time, Alijandra,” Mama said. “Not now, with company here,” she warned.

“Yes, Mama,” the little girl replied. 

One by one, the fish slid down the dragon’s throat, until they were gone. Hhhaaaaaaaaaaaaa, the dragon gaped. Its tiny eyes turned to Alijandra and held hers.

“I’m glad you liked that,” the little girl said. “Maybe I can get you more.”

“What have you given the dragon?” Mama asked. “Is it eating?”

“I had some fish that I caught in a stream,” Daon Raul said. “I thought I would have them for a snack. Your girls convinced me to let the dragon try them.”

“Hmm,” Mama said. She put the last of the bowls on the table.

She doesn’t believe him, Isabella said. But she isn’t going to say anything. At least, not yet.  

“Something…” Daon Raul began. “Something about that dragon. I can’t think what.”

Watching Daon Raul, Pearl crept back into her box and curled up. 

“What do you mean?” Mama asked.

“Have you ever seen a person’s face and you felt like you should know their name, even though you’ve never seen them before? Or, at least, you think you’ve never seen them before?” 

“No,” Mama said. “I’ve never had that feeling.”

“Ah,” Daon Raul replied. “Well, I feel like that there’s something about this dragon I should know. But what that is, I can’t say.”

“Supper is ready,” Mama said. “May we ask for a blessing, Daon?”

“Of course,” the priest said. 
 
 

After dinner of beans and ham, Daon Raul stood and said, “I should be on my way.”

“Where are you going?” Mama asked. 

“Esmargga,” he replied. “For Friar Ismael’s burial.”

“You can’t leave now,” Mama said. “It’s already dark. You can spend the night here, have breakfast with us, and be on your way in the morning.”

“It wouldn’t be proper, with your husband not home,” Daon Raul protested. “And I’ve imposed enough on your hospitality.”

“Nonsense,” Mama replied. “You’re not going out there. You’ll be eaten by coyotes. Or cougars. Or something worse. No,” she insisted. “Esmargga is two days from here: tonight is one night less that you’ll have to sleep outdoors.”

“Mrs. Anerson—”

“My mind is made up, Daon,” she said. 

“Very well,” he smiled. “Thank you. I’ll make my bedroll in the larder, if that’s all right.”

“It is very cramped in there,” Mama said.

“I don’t need much room,” the priest replied. 

As Mama and To-Ho-Ne cleaned up and Isabella went outside to feed Jack, Alijandra sat on the floor by Pearl’s box. Daon Raul squatted beside her. “I know you told me before,” he said, “but please remind me: how long have you had her?” 

“Two or three weeks, I guess,” Alijandra said. “Ever since the storm.”

“I’ve lived in Scorpion Tail for a long time,” Daon Raul said, “but I’ve never seen a storm like that before.” He thought for a moment. “Well, no. That’s not true. Once, when I was a little boy—littler than you—a storm like that came in from the sea. We had to leave our home. It was nighttime when the storm came. I remember my father picking me up and carrying me through the dark. My mother and my sister—she was older than me, like Isabella is to you—carried as many of our clothes and our food as they could. We went up into the mountains at the edge of our town.”

“Then what happened?” Alijandra asked.

“We stayed there overnight. My grandfather—he was old and blind—he didn’t come with us. Nothing my mother said would make him get out his chair. Finally, we had to leave him.”

“And then?”

“It rained a lot. Lightning and thunder, too, like the storm we just had. The wind—I’ve never heard anything louder in my life. But in the morning, the storm was over. We went back home. Except home wasn’t there any more. It was just—gone.”

“Gone?” Alijandra asked.

“Gone. The wind had knocked down our house and the waves—we lived by the sea—had taken the rest of it away. I never saw my grandfather again.”

“That’s terrible,” Alijandra said.

“Yes, it was,” Daon Raul said. “So, what are you doing?”

“I like to watch Pearl while she sleeps,” Alijandra said. 

Daon Raul peered into the box. The dragon was curled up, its white eyes shut.

“Does she sleep a lot?” he asked.

“Yes,” Alijandra replied. “She only wakes up to eat or drink, or when she’s feeling bad. Then we give her medicine.”  

“What do you suppose is wrong with her?”

“I don’t know,” Alijandra said. “Her leg is broken—see the little splint that To-Ho-Ne made for her?—and she’s sick all the time. She spews out a lot, and she’s not able to do much. To-Ho-Ne thinks that she was in a fight with the big dragon—the one Ahiga told you about—and maybe she got poison in her.”

“I see she ate all the fish.”

Alijandra nodded. “I think she really liked them.”

“Time for medicine,” To-Ho-Ne said, sitting herself with a huff on the floor. She was chewing a wad of the horsetail plant. 

“May I help?” Daon Raul asked.

“If you want,” To-Ho-Ne replied. “Take the dragon out of the box, and hold it tight. Especially its head. It bites.”

“Be careful with her,” Alijandra said. “She doesn’t mean to bite, she’s just scared of people. I think sometimes she thinks we’re trying to hurt her, but—”

“I’ll be careful,” Daon Raul said. He reached into the box, slipped his rough hands—with their blunt, stubby fingers—under the dragon, and lifted. “She’s light,” he said. “Lighter than I expected. I thought she’d weigh as much as a cat, but she’s even lighter than that. It’s like holding a bird.” The dragon opened its eyes.

“Oh, please be careful, please be careful,” Alijandra pleaded. “It’s okay, Pearl, he’s not going to hurt you he’s a friend he’s a friend it’s all right it’s—”

The dragon snarled and its neck and tail lashed from side to side, like a snake. Its claws waved in the air, clenching and unclenching. 

“It’s all right, Pearl, it’s all—”

“Hold the head, I said,” To-Ho-Ne growled. 

Daon Raul frowned. “I’m try—AUUGH!” 

Something white flashed—zzrkk—and Daon Raul dropped Pearl and flopped backwards onto the floor. “What is it?” Mama exclaimed. She rushed over and bent down. “Daon, are you all right?”

“Pearl!” Alijandra cried. The dragon had fallen into the bowl of water, spilling it. Alijandra picked up the dragon. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Are you hurt?”

“Never mind your stupid dragon,” Isabella snarled. “Are you all right, Daon Raul?”

“I—I think so,” he said. “My hands,” he said, “I—”

“No, you’re not all right,” To-Ho-Ne said. She took Daon Raul’s wrists and showed them his hands. His palms were already burned black.

Like the burn marks on the big dragon, Isabella thought. She looked over at Alijandra, who was holding and stoking Pearl. The little dragon was trembling and gasping, as if it had exhausted itself somehow. 

Lightning, Isabella realized. Pearl makes lightning.
 
 

© Kenton Kilgore, December 2007