her speech, but her meaning was clear. He said, Flicker.
She stared expectantly at him.
Flicker, he repeated, aloud this time. Flicker, Flicker …
Flibbit? She coloured prettily at his laughter, but struggled on, Flinger? Flapper?
The dragonet grew annoyed, letting a tiny curl of fire lick around her digit. Flicker! How dare the two-legged thing mock him like this? Mangle my name just one more time and I swear–
Flicker.
He trilled his delight into the still afternoon air. Lia laughed again, pressing his body against her shaking stomach, so brimful of joy he could not help but revel in it, too.
She said, “We’re going to be great friends.” Flicker.
Lia, I’m going to teach you all about dragonets, he gushed. You’ll never have had a better teacher than me, you’ll see. I’m smart, and dauntless, and …
The girl let out a hiss of pain, making him jump. Flicker did not understand the sound, but the lines creasing her flat face made her need clear–herbs to dull the pain. Had anything survived the storm?
Chapter 4: Caves
HUALIAMA RESTED IN a small, sandy cave–really just a shelter hollowed out by animals beneath a vast boulder–as the dragonet worked indefatigably in her care. Flicker disappeared for hours on end before returning with treasures such as ripe, tasty prekki fruit, landas gourds which yielded sour but palatable milk, and offerings of small animals which he hunted and killed. Raw monkey meat made her sick, but she found lemur and bat very acceptable.
Dragonets were vain, thoughtless creatures, she had always been taught. Flicker’s knowledge blew that Island right out of the Cloudlands. The day following their escape from the storm, Flicker made Lia understand that she should lie on her stomach while he cleaned out the wound on her back, numbed it with one of his powerful concoctions, and then proceeded to sew the flapping skin and muscle tissue together with the use of long, thin thorns and a thread he chewed and teased apart from a fleshy, succulent type of grass. He slathered more of his healing herbs on the wound.
His tiny paws were fabulously dextrous. Flicker seemed able to do anything a Human could do, and more. The dragonet was certainly intelligent! They passed the hours teaching each other words and phrases in their respective languages.
Lia sang for him, which he clearly loved. The dragonet’s eyes would fill with fire as he basked in the sound and often, he chirped insistently for more. Once, he showed her a dragonet dance, but acted embarrassed afterward.
Moving with great care because of the thousand-kitten claw-prick sensation of the stitches criss-crossing her back, Lia cut ferns for a bed, not the hundred-foot trailing ferns from the cliff face, but the softer, smaller type which flourished around boulders and in any moist crack. Flicker immediately appropriated the soft pallet. Lia scolded him until she realised that he meant for them to sleep curled up together, much as a pet feline might creep into a warm bed.
Then, he purred up a miniature storm and spent all night trying to burrow beneath her neck. Perfect.
Finding flint, Hualiama taught herself how to strike a fire, starting with dry moss and twigs, before adding slightly larger sticks. Now she could spit a small bird or bat and roast it over a dancing fire, making her meals much more palatable. The dragonet ate from her fingers with the finicky care of a cat, and woe betide her should she allow fat or juice to drip onto his scales! His love of intestines, however, made her want to cackle like a yellow-breasted parakeet. He was so disgusting, especially his delight in fiery burps during mealtimes, or his predilection for playing with his prey before killing it. But one evening, a week after they had fled from the storm, he nosed her hand aside as she reached for the flint.
“No. Flicker do,” he said, very clearly, and lit the fire for her with his breath.
Flicker clever boy, she replied in Dragonish.
He arched his back against her hand. Scratch.
Flicker turned his muzzle to gaze at her as she coughed dryly, trying to protect her stomach by not coughing too violently. “The air isn’t good,” she said, signing at the cave roof. “I think we should climb, Flicker.”
Fly? he said, hopefully.
Climb. Humans no fly.
His snort of fire let her know his opinion of her disability. Hualiama chuckled, especially when he added, Food ready?
Flicker eat Dragon, she teased.
Flicker eat like Dragon, he corrected her grammar, but purred contentedly nevertheless. Tomorrow, we should climb, Lia.