by Katie Pottle
“Yeah, he is from Ansford, but he developed a green Aura.”
“Oh, that is pretty rare. However, with your parentage, you do have the possibility of developing a blue Aura. Or would you rather have green?”
Cadin just started laughing. “I actually have no idea what I would prefer… I mean it will be what it will be, right?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Sun said as she smiled and then splashed Cadin.
Cadin was stunned by the flash of water as Sun swam away, laughing and trying to get out of Cadin’s range before he could get back at her. Though Sun had gotten a good distance away from him, Cadin could tell that he wouldn’t have any trouble catching up.
Sun powered on as fast as she could, heading for the edge of the lake with their stuff. Just before she reached the edge Cadin deftly popped up right in front of her, smiling. Sun screamed and choked on the cold lake water.
Realizing that he had shocked her a little more than he had intended, Cadin helped her to the land as she finished spitting out the water.
“Sorry about that,” Cadin said, a contrite look on his face. “I really didn’t mean to scare you that much, swimming underneath you and all.”
“No, no—it was my fault—I was only expecting you from the back. Rookie mistake,” she said smiling. “Back on Lance my crazy grandfather would constantly quiz me on battle tactics and would always tell me that the biggest rookie mistake for angels in battle who had just gotten their wings was forgetting that flying battles introduced an additional dimension. Rookies are always too focused on what is on the horizontal plane and often get ambushed from below or above. I just didn’t think about water as offering you another plane. And even if I did, I had no idea that you would be fast enough to utilize it.”
Cadin was relieved that Sun was not upset with him. A chill ran up his body as a slight breeze rolled through their shaded cove.
“Do you want to climb up the rocks a bit and sit in the sun? There are a lot of cool cloud creatures up there, and I have some snacks in my pack that we can eat while we warm up.”
“That sounds good.”
“What kind of creatures?”
Cadin told her stories about when he was a kid and chased bright green moonflies with his parents, and about finding cloud-worms with Lep and losing half of one to the biggest rock dragon that he had ever seen. “And every full moon there are white bats that come out of their caves to hunt the poppers,” Cadin said as he reached a flat area.
“What’s a popper?”
“Oh, that’s what we call the claw insects that spend their larval stages developing in the lake. On the full moon, they pop out of the water and fly around. The bats love them.”
The heat radiated through Cadin’s cold skin as he spread out over the warm rocks.
“This feels much better,” Sun said as she closed her eyes and tilted her face toward the sun. “What kind of creatures live in the rocks?”
“What… oh yeah—a lot of the little species of dragons. The grass dragons are usually yellow to green and only get about a finger’s length. Rock dragons are generally a bit bigger and gray. But the rock dragon that fought me for half the cloud worm was dark blue and huge. We will probably see a few of them out sunning, or we could lift up some rocks and try to find cloud-worms.”
“How about that snack first?”
“Okay,” said Cadin as he pulled out what was left of his school snack to split up between them.
“Cadin, how do you know so much about the cloud-life around here?”
“My mom. She works in the Cloud-Creature Department at Town Hall. She tells me about some of the cool stuff that they do like explore all the different types of ecosystems in and around Glade. They study the wildlife and rehabilitate some creatures that people bring to them that have been partially eaten, or accidentally hit by an angel in flight.”
“Do you ever get to see any of the injured animals?”
“Oh, yeah. My mom occasionally brings one home with her and we take care of it until it can be released. There are a couple of creatures that could never be released back in the wild because their injuries handicap them too much, and they stay on a special reserve on the back side of Town Hall. My mom used to let me play there when I was little.”
“What types of animals are there?” Sun asked excitedly as she set aside part of her sweet roll.
As Cadin began to answer, he froze up and watched as the same large, blue rock dragon that had got his cloud-worm, rush up at lightning speed, snatch the sweet roll from Sun’s side and run off up the rocks.
“Not again!” Cadin yelled tore up the mountainside after the thieving dragon.
The dragon was incredibly fast as it ran up and around the rocks. It tried to open its wings to fly a couple of times, but Cadin was too quick and nearly caught it every time it tried. Cadin was almost close enough to grab it when it zipped into a deep rock crevice with its prize. Cadin quickly grabbed for the top rock over the entrance, and though it was too heavy for him to lift, he managed to get it to roll forward.
“Heads up!” Cadin shouted down to Sun. The rock rolled safely by her as she continued to climb.
Cadin looked quickly to the hole that he thought was a narrow crevice but now saw was a small cave. The large rock collapsed some of the walls.
Off to the side the large rock dragon hissed at Cadin, some smoke circling her nostrils. In the center was a clutch of spotted eggs. It looked as though three of the five had been crushed by the collapsing walls. His bright golden eyes glistened with tears as he looked over the scene.
Two of the eggs were certainly crushed by fallen rocks; however, the third egg that Cadin had initially thought to have been crushed was only cracked and empty. Staring at the empty egg, Cadin’s eyes flew open as he realized that it must have just hatched. Searching the den, Cadin saw a small tail flicker from under the rubble.
“Oh, no,” Cadin moaned as he reached for the baby, ignoring the mom dragon now in the center, standing with her two remaining eggs and half-eaten sweet roll, spitting and hissing at Cadin. Under the rubble was the smallest rock dragon that Cadin had ever seen. It was still covered in the fluid from the egg, and in some of its own blood.
Sun climbed over the edge and surveyed the scene just as Cadin gently picked up the injured baby rock dragon and wrapped it carefully in his shirt.
“We have to take him to my mom quickly,” Cadin said. “First, can you help me lift this rock?”
Setting down the baby rock dragon, Cadin and Sun lifted a nearby flat rock and gently placed it over the exposed mom and two eggs to act as a ceiling.
“The entrance hole looks clear,” Sun said as she peeked in while Cadin picked up the baby dragon.
Sara had flown ahead to Town Hall with the baby dragon, leaving Cadin and Sun to run and meet her there. Upon their arrival, a mousy looking receptionist told them they were to wait in the main hall for Sara.
They sat on the nearest bench to the Cloud-Creature office in the large main hall. Once Cadin caught his breath, he started getting more and more anxious about the dragon. To distract himself, he looked around the room that he had become familiar with during his community service. He was two months into his six-month sentence and he still didn’t know where all the doors led.
The Town Hall was laid out more for winged angels than adolescents. The main floor had access enough for everyone with a large circular antechamber that they now sat in. Then there was a wide flyway opening to another large room that Cadin could not quite see. Cadin nudged Sun to show her his favorite feature of the large room designed for adult employees. The room extended up six levels. There were no stairs, only landings that extended out from each floor. Cadin saw a couple of angels fly quickly between floors and land with variations of gracefulness before carrying on with their work. Sun giggled as one angel burdened with paperwork stacked up to his forehead missed a landing and nearly ran into the wall.
Sun’s gaze dropped back down to their level as she
took in the many doors. “Most of the doors on this floor are nicely labeled,” Sun pointed to the brightly colored sign that said, Education Department. “But there are a few that are blank. Do you know what are behind those doors?”
“Only a couple. I’m not allowed to go into the offices while I’m cleaning. If I even get close to the Local Enforcement office, the receptionist gives me a dirty look like I am one of the criminals on their boards.”
“That’s terrible.”
“Comes with the job,” Cadin said with a shrug. “That door leads to a closet with cleaning supplies. That door at the far end is supposed to be a public office I think; all the offices on the main floor are here for easy public access…but I never see anyone go into that room.”
At that moment, they heard a strange noise coming from the room in question. They did not have a good view of the mysterious room and both hopped off the bench to check it out. More interesting noises came from behind the door that Cadin could now see was slightly ajar. They had followed the curve of the wall to the office and approached it without a sound. Cadin was trying to be as quiet as possible with Sun close behind, who seemed to Cadin to be just as noisy as every green Aura angel.
Getting near enough to the entrance to hear several sounds from within, Cadin reached out a hand for the doorknob.
“Cadin, Sun!” Sara called from behind them. Cadin’s heart jumped at the sound of his mother’s voice, and Sun let out a surprised squeak.
In his mother’s hands was the baby rock dragon, curled into a ball and sleeping. The wounds were expertly wrapped with very tiny bandages around the dragon’s body and foreleg. Cadin could see that his mother had a bag full of things, but could not see what was inside.
“It has medicine, food and more bandages. If we take good care him, he should be fine, though we must bring him back to Miss Esperanza for checkups.” Sara answered Cadin’s gaze.
“Him?” Sun asked.
“Oh, yes. Miss Esperanza identified him as a male, newborn rock-dragon and said that he is quite big.”
“You should have seen his mother! So, can we keep him?”
“Well, he will need help at least until he is old enough to survive on his own. However, he may not survive well in the wild if we raise him in captivity. We may want to let Miss Esperanza raise him in the wildlife reserve. Then at least he could be released later. I told her we will take him for this week and figure it out from there.”
“Mom…” Cadin was mulling through his emotions. “I would like to raise him. I broke his home, and it was my fault that he got crushed by the rock.”
“It is a serious commitment to raise a cloud-creature Cadin. How about we wait to decide until the end of the week?”
“Okay. Thanks for your help, mom. Can I hold him?” Sara smiled at her son and told him to open his hands.
The baby rock dragon stayed curled up and asleep in Cadin’s hands for the entire walk home. Cadin noticed that he kept making little grumbling noises if he was jostled. Sun walked with them to the edge of the town center. She gave Cadin a one-armed hug, trying not to wiggle him too much, pet the baby rock dragon with a finger, and then waved good-bye and headed home. The dragon gave a little gurrrr and then settled back into the curve of his hand.
Cadin felt relieved to have the week off school because taking care of a newborn dragon was hard work. At night Cadin had to wake up every few hours to feed him, and if he forgot, the baby dragon would start growling and spitting at him. Hearing gur...gurrr...spit…gurrrrrrr, was enough to get Cadin out of bed to sleepily crush up the dried cloud-worms and other little creatures that were in the bag. He mixed the powder with warm water and feed it to the baby dragon through a small dropper. The dragon soon got so excited to see Cadin with the dropper that he would start wiggling around and bite for it, occasionally getting Cadin’s finger in all the action. The dragon sucked and bit happily, making little grunting noises until he was full and then curled up in the warm corner of the rock nest that had the desk light shining down on it.
Sara helped him build the rock nest and set up the desk light with a dark filter. “Normally the baby would lay next to their mother to keep warm, but this should do.”
The next morning, Cadin dragged his feet into the kitchen. The baby dragon had woken him up five times throughout the night to eat and cuddle.
“For such a small thing, you sure are loud,” he mumbled.
“Gurrr,” the dragon said as it curled up in his hand.
“I have an idea.” He set the sleeping dragon down and started searching the cupboards. He was precariously perched on a dining room chair, and reaching above the kitchen cabinets for some old linens when Sun and Lep both walked in.
Cadin saw them out of the corner of his eye, and when he turned, the chair gave a nasty wobble. The chair went flying and Cadin landed hard on his butt.
“Are you okay?” Sun asked.
“I’m fine.” Cadin pulled the sheets off his lap and stood up.
“Smooth,” Lep said as he picked up the fallen chair and sat with it facing backwards.
“Hi guys,” Cadin said casually as he walked by Lep, knocking his elbows out from under him. Laughing he offered Sun a seat and then sat himself.
“Hi, Cadin. How’s the baby dragon?” Sun asked.
“Baby what!?” Lep asked looking around in a panic, as if a dire dragon was about to turn the corner of the kitchen at any moment.
“Just a little rock dragon, Lep,” Cadin said as he pointed to a second rock nest in the corner of the kitchen and the living room.
“Oh, I think we woke him up,” Sun said as she peered into the nest. “His tiny bandages look so cute.”
“Yeah, cute,” Lep said from a distance, probably thinking that dragon teeth were way sharper than cloud-worm teeth.
“Can one of you guys pick him up gently and hold him while I make his food?” Cadin asked from the kitchen. Lep took a small step forward when Sun looked at him and smiled and then three big steps back when Cadin warned them to watch out for biting. Sun picked the baby dragon up and laughed as he nuzzled her thumb and started his little gurr…spit…gurrr routine.
He started nibbling in search of food.
“Cut it out, Gur,” Cadin said to the dragon as he pulled him off Sun’s thumbs and gave him the dropper.
“It didn’t hurt,” Sun said as she giggled, watching the dragon try to grab at the dropper with his forearms as if it would help get the food out faster. “What was it that you called him?”
“Gur. It is the noise that he makes the most, so I just started calling him that. What do you think of him?” Cadin asked, seeing that Lep had slowly inched his way closer.
“Well, he is really small, and not as gray as I thought baby rock dragons were.”
Sun smiled and may have laughed a bit, but she turned away. Cadin smiled at Lep and said, “Not what do you think about what he looks like. What do you think about me having a dragon?”
“Oh, well…I guess it is kinda cool, and definitely something that you would do.”
“As for his coloring,” Cadin said while letting Gur walk between his and Sun’s hands, “my mom told me that baby rock dragons change their coloring to blend into their environment better for the first six months or so. That way it is harder for predators to find them.”
“That makes sense,” said Sun.
“Yeah, pretty cool,” Lep added as he leaned in to get a closer look. “He looks kind of tan in color, like the walls of your house.”
“Maybe you can change his color by putting different shades in his rock nests,” Sun suggested.
“Perfect.” Cadin jumped up to retrieve everything he had gathered to make a companion for Gur. “I’m making him a little sleeping doll.”
After Sara re-bandaged Gur, the dragon was looking sleepy and crawled towards the heated corner of the nest. Cadin watched as Gur paused at the sight of the dragon doll. He approached it very carefully and sniffed the air. He took a couple of quick st
eps to one side and then the other. He slowly crawled closer, staying low to the ground and keeping an eye on the big dragon’s face. Cadin smiled as Gur reached his unhurt forearm out. Not being quite within reaching distance, he scooted a little closer and reached out again. This time he could just barely touch the base of the dragon’s tail. Gur took a few steps back, lowered his head and raced forward, head-butting the big dragon right in the rear.
Cadin burst out laughing with Sun and even Lep. Gur scurried off to the cold corner of the nest as far away from the doll as he could get.
“Quiet, guys, I think we scared him,” Cadin said to the other two who were still giggling. It had just been too funny and a little bit surprising seeing Gur ram the stuffed dragon rather than cuddle with it. Cadin held his hand out to Gur and let the baby dragon crawl up to his palm. Talking in a very calm voice, Cadin slowly brought Gur close to the stuffed dragon and told him that it was meant to be his friend to sleep with. Gur seemed a little hesitant as they got close, but Cadin started petting the big dragon with his free hand, and then petting Gur. Gur seemed to get the idea, and reached out and started feeling the big dragon on his own. After several minutes of exploring the stuffed dragon, Gur curled up next to the doll and fell asleep.
Cadin walked with his mom through the town center toward Town Hall with Gur crawling back and forth from one shoulder to the other. They had taken him outside in the little valley behind their house to play, but this was Gur’s first time really out and about since the first day they had taken him to Miss Esperanza.
Cadin had talked a lot with his mom about whether they should keep and raise Gur, but the more time Cadin was with Gur, the less there seemed to be any choice in the matter. Sara could see that they had bonded, and that it would be bad for both of them to be separated. She was just worried what Miss Esperanza would say. Master Esperanza was a strict angel who believed in rehabilitating cloud-creatures the “right way,” with as little angel to creature contact as possible.
