The Dragon's Gate part III
Jan. 4th, 2005 01:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
joegodaWe left the story last night right where we should have. When everyone went to bed and to sleep and to dream. Perhaps they dreamed of you..
The dragon spent a very hard night laying on the ground near the docks. His many wounds bled freely and the blood left smoking trails on the ground where he lay. His fitful dreams were full of darkness and rocks and he could not rest at all. He missed his bed of mountain snow, and he missed his breakfasts of mountain rabbit, goat, bear.. mountain whatever happend to be the catch of the day. Though he told the little girl that it did not hurt, indeed, it hurt quite a bit! Indeed it did. Muscle and bone had been torn, flesh had been ripped, blood had been spilled. It hurt quite a bit, and the dragon knew he was going to die.
The little girl, whose name was Kajira (a lovely name, thought her mother, for a lovely girl), had gone home that night to a million kazillion questions from her parents. However, not a single one of the questions involved staying away from the dragon, because her parents both knew Kajira was a bit.. unusual. The questions were more like "What did you two talk about?", and "Is he in pain?", and "What did he smell like?". The last was from her older brother, because brothers are always interested in the icky parts of life. Kajira told her parents what she and the dragon had talked about, how sad she thought he was, and that she was sure he was really and truely a good dragon, all in all.
Now, it may seem odd to you, being where you are, out there where dragons hide so very well, it's almost as if they aren't there at all, that a little girl and a dragon may converse. And so, it would have seemed odd to Kajira's parents, had they not known their daughter was unusual from the beginning. She had a gift, they said, to be able to talk to any animal, any animal at all, and have them talk back. It is one thing to talk to an animal. Folks do it all the time, you see. But rare it is for the animal to talk back, and rarer still for a conversation to take place.
Kajira had been talking to animals since the very day she was born, and the first animal she spoke to was a bird that had lighted on the window sill to whistle at the new born. So well known was her gift throughout the village, that no one thought it odd that she would be talking to the dragon. They thought it might be a tad bit dangerous, what with dragon teeth and claw and tail, but they certainly did not think the talking part was odd in the slightest, not the very least. At least not for Kajira.
In the morning, with the sun shining so incredibly bright and the wind blowing little dandilion fuzz around that Kajira packed a light basket full of red apples, and another basket full of bright and merry flowers. Kissing her sleeping parents on each of their cheeks, she headed out the door and headed straight down to the dragon. She sat there, in the same spot she sat before and waited.
While she waited, and she was prepared to wait a long time, she ate an apple, red and juicy.
The dragon, opening one eye, watched with disdainful, but curious interest.
Kajira took one long bite from her apple and watched the dragon back. The Dragon watched her. It took a long time to chew that bite, because it was a very long and very big bite. She chewed it with relish and a single drop of apple juice ran down her chin, to drop, falling onto the ground.
Kajira slowly swallowed, never taking her eyes off the dragon. With a very small sound for a very large dragon, he cleared his throat. "Arumph", he said. Kajira stopped chewing and waited. When nothing further came, she took another long bite from the apple and resumed her slow process of chewing.
"Arumph", said the dragon again. Kajira stopped chewing again, swallowed a very big bite and asked "Yes?"
"Not that it really matters much to me," said the dragon, "but what is that you are eating?"
Kajira raised one small eyebrow, took a much smaller bite and said, "Why dragon," with a bit of suprise, "this is an apple. Have you not seen an apple before?"
"No, I have never seen an apple. What sort of beast is it, it has no legs, it has no head, and it looks like it bleeds clear blood. It must be a very strange beast indeed". "Unnggg", he said at the end.
Kajira suddenly wore an expression of concern. "Are you all right?"
"Besides dying? Yes, antling, I am as fine as I can possibly be. What is an apple?" the dragon shifted his position just a bit, and the look of pain eased from his enormous face just a bit.
"An apple", she began, "is a fruit. It is not a beast. It is not something that you hunt and kill. It grows on a tree, and is quite delicious. Would you like to have one? I have many here."
"How is it that you can eat something that is not a beast, that does not bleed? How do you get the joy of the hunt, of the chase? What is the pleasure in eating something that does not struggle?"
"Oh dragon", she cried, "Why would I find pleasure in the hunting and killing of an animal? This apple comes from a tree that my father planted and grew with his own hands. It traveled from far away, and my mother carried it as seeds in her pocket all the way from her home when she was a child. This apple came from a lot of work, from the sweat and the dirt of the land, as my father says. This apple carries with it all that makes my father and my mother who they are, and with every bite I can feel their love for me"
Now, dear reader, you might be wondering how such a little girl can be speaking so large, as if she was an adult. This is one of the gifts and one of the curses that the BeastSpeakers carried. Because of the connection to every animal on the planet, they were often forced to grow up, facing death and life, birth and destruction on a daily basis. They lived many lifetimes every day of their lives, through the animal minds that they touched and spoke to. Indeed, it made her much, much older than her days, and indeed, it also made her much, much, much lonelier. Still, she was a very brave little girl, Kajira was, and recognised that sometimes life is just life, and is dealt with best with your chin up, your eyes forward.
"But I am a dragon! I cannot eat just any old thing, and most definitely not something that doesn't bleat, moo or fight back! It just wouldn't be right, it just wouldn't be .. dragonish."
"Piffle", Kajira piffled. "You are the last dragon, who better to decide what is dragonish and what isn't" She plucked a very large, very red apple from the basket. "I think you should try one."
"I would just as soon eat you, little antling", he said with disdain and a bit of humor, which Kajira did indeed notice.
Kajira stood up with her hands on her hips and faced the dragon squarely. "Dragon", she said, "my name is Kajira, not antling, if you please. And my race is human, not antling, besides."
"What matters it to me what your name is, antling? I am a dragon, and I am dying."
"Oh. I'm very sorry for that, indeed. In that case, I will leave you to your misery, Sir Dragon. Good day." With that, she gathered up her basket of apples and her basket of flowers and started to move down the path away from the dragon.
"BUT", the dragon interjected after arumphing a very large arumph, "if it pleases you, then I will use that name for you."
Kajira turned back "And I am not an antling"
The dragon sighed a very large dragonish sigh and said "Very well...."
Kajira came back down the path and stood before the dragon, closer than she had been before. "And what is your name, dragon. I can't go around calling you dragon all the time, and I can't just call you hey you, now can I?"
"My name is Gladure, ant.. Kajira"
"Very nice to meet you, Gladure. Kajira means sacrifice. My mother tells me she named me that simply because she liked the sound of it, but I suspect there is a deeper meaning to it. What does your name mean?"
The dragon thought about it for a while and then replied "Gladure means Radiant One. My egg mother and father named me thus so that I would grow into the name. Radiant One means King"
Kajira held an apple out to Gladure. "Here, eat this." She pushed it past the dragon's front teeth and onto his tongue. This might sound like a very icky thing to have done, but Kajira had spent most of her life nursing animals to health, and she was used to icky things. "It seems pretty useless to me to be King, if you are King of nothing at all."
Gladure swallowed quickly, without chewing. "To be King is to be King. It does not matter if you are King of yourself, or King of all there is. This apple has no taste."
"That's because you didn't chew it, silly. Here, try another one". Kajira put another apple into the dragon's mouth. "Now chew it, don't just swallow it. It's not a sheep, you know", she said in her best motherly sounding voice.
Gladure moved the apple between two of his great teeth and with a crunch, exploded the apple in to his mouth. His eyes opened a bit wider, and snorted a small sort of surprise. "So that's an apple. I must say, I don't know what I expected, but I do think you made far to much of such a little thing." He swallowed and asked, "Can I have another?"
"Of course you may", said Kajira.
And that was how they spent that whole day, eating apples and making small talk about nothing at all. Great dragon and small girl, just talking. Gladure found out more about the small animals and life as a human, and Kajira found out more about what it is like to be a dragon sitting on a mountain top.
And this is how we shall leave them, today, beloveds. I do not want to leave, but here are errands to run, and things to see, and people to speak with. As the story unfolds this evening, I will write more.
StoryTeller
The dragon spent a very hard night laying on the ground near the docks. His many wounds bled freely and the blood left smoking trails on the ground where he lay. His fitful dreams were full of darkness and rocks and he could not rest at all. He missed his bed of mountain snow, and he missed his breakfasts of mountain rabbit, goat, bear.. mountain whatever happend to be the catch of the day. Though he told the little girl that it did not hurt, indeed, it hurt quite a bit! Indeed it did. Muscle and bone had been torn, flesh had been ripped, blood had been spilled. It hurt quite a bit, and the dragon knew he was going to die.
The little girl, whose name was Kajira (a lovely name, thought her mother, for a lovely girl), had gone home that night to a million kazillion questions from her parents. However, not a single one of the questions involved staying away from the dragon, because her parents both knew Kajira was a bit.. unusual. The questions were more like "What did you two talk about?", and "Is he in pain?", and "What did he smell like?". The last was from her older brother, because brothers are always interested in the icky parts of life. Kajira told her parents what she and the dragon had talked about, how sad she thought he was, and that she was sure he was really and truely a good dragon, all in all.
Now, it may seem odd to you, being where you are, out there where dragons hide so very well, it's almost as if they aren't there at all, that a little girl and a dragon may converse. And so, it would have seemed odd to Kajira's parents, had they not known their daughter was unusual from the beginning. She had a gift, they said, to be able to talk to any animal, any animal at all, and have them talk back. It is one thing to talk to an animal. Folks do it all the time, you see. But rare it is for the animal to talk back, and rarer still for a conversation to take place.
Kajira had been talking to animals since the very day she was born, and the first animal she spoke to was a bird that had lighted on the window sill to whistle at the new born. So well known was her gift throughout the village, that no one thought it odd that she would be talking to the dragon. They thought it might be a tad bit dangerous, what with dragon teeth and claw and tail, but they certainly did not think the talking part was odd in the slightest, not the very least. At least not for Kajira.
In the morning, with the sun shining so incredibly bright and the wind blowing little dandilion fuzz around that Kajira packed a light basket full of red apples, and another basket full of bright and merry flowers. Kissing her sleeping parents on each of their cheeks, she headed out the door and headed straight down to the dragon. She sat there, in the same spot she sat before and waited.
While she waited, and she was prepared to wait a long time, she ate an apple, red and juicy.
The dragon, opening one eye, watched with disdainful, but curious interest.
Kajira took one long bite from her apple and watched the dragon back. The Dragon watched her. It took a long time to chew that bite, because it was a very long and very big bite. She chewed it with relish and a single drop of apple juice ran down her chin, to drop, falling onto the ground.
Kajira slowly swallowed, never taking her eyes off the dragon. With a very small sound for a very large dragon, he cleared his throat. "Arumph", he said. Kajira stopped chewing and waited. When nothing further came, she took another long bite from the apple and resumed her slow process of chewing.
"Arumph", said the dragon again. Kajira stopped chewing again, swallowed a very big bite and asked "Yes?"
"Not that it really matters much to me," said the dragon, "but what is that you are eating?"
Kajira raised one small eyebrow, took a much smaller bite and said, "Why dragon," with a bit of suprise, "this is an apple. Have you not seen an apple before?"
"No, I have never seen an apple. What sort of beast is it, it has no legs, it has no head, and it looks like it bleeds clear blood. It must be a very strange beast indeed". "Unnggg", he said at the end.
Kajira suddenly wore an expression of concern. "Are you all right?"
"Besides dying? Yes, antling, I am as fine as I can possibly be. What is an apple?" the dragon shifted his position just a bit, and the look of pain eased from his enormous face just a bit.
"An apple", she began, "is a fruit. It is not a beast. It is not something that you hunt and kill. It grows on a tree, and is quite delicious. Would you like to have one? I have many here."
"How is it that you can eat something that is not a beast, that does not bleed? How do you get the joy of the hunt, of the chase? What is the pleasure in eating something that does not struggle?"
"Oh dragon", she cried, "Why would I find pleasure in the hunting and killing of an animal? This apple comes from a tree that my father planted and grew with his own hands. It traveled from far away, and my mother carried it as seeds in her pocket all the way from her home when she was a child. This apple came from a lot of work, from the sweat and the dirt of the land, as my father says. This apple carries with it all that makes my father and my mother who they are, and with every bite I can feel their love for me"
Now, dear reader, you might be wondering how such a little girl can be speaking so large, as if she was an adult. This is one of the gifts and one of the curses that the BeastSpeakers carried. Because of the connection to every animal on the planet, they were often forced to grow up, facing death and life, birth and destruction on a daily basis. They lived many lifetimes every day of their lives, through the animal minds that they touched and spoke to. Indeed, it made her much, much older than her days, and indeed, it also made her much, much, much lonelier. Still, she was a very brave little girl, Kajira was, and recognised that sometimes life is just life, and is dealt with best with your chin up, your eyes forward.
"But I am a dragon! I cannot eat just any old thing, and most definitely not something that doesn't bleat, moo or fight back! It just wouldn't be right, it just wouldn't be .. dragonish."
"Piffle", Kajira piffled. "You are the last dragon, who better to decide what is dragonish and what isn't" She plucked a very large, very red apple from the basket. "I think you should try one."
"I would just as soon eat you, little antling", he said with disdain and a bit of humor, which Kajira did indeed notice.
Kajira stood up with her hands on her hips and faced the dragon squarely. "Dragon", she said, "my name is Kajira, not antling, if you please. And my race is human, not antling, besides."
"What matters it to me what your name is, antling? I am a dragon, and I am dying."
"Oh. I'm very sorry for that, indeed. In that case, I will leave you to your misery, Sir Dragon. Good day." With that, she gathered up her basket of apples and her basket of flowers and started to move down the path away from the dragon.
"BUT", the dragon interjected after arumphing a very large arumph, "if it pleases you, then I will use that name for you."
Kajira turned back "And I am not an antling"
The dragon sighed a very large dragonish sigh and said "Very well...."
Kajira came back down the path and stood before the dragon, closer than she had been before. "And what is your name, dragon. I can't go around calling you dragon all the time, and I can't just call you hey you, now can I?"
"My name is Gladure, ant.. Kajira"
"Very nice to meet you, Gladure. Kajira means sacrifice. My mother tells me she named me that simply because she liked the sound of it, but I suspect there is a deeper meaning to it. What does your name mean?"
The dragon thought about it for a while and then replied "Gladure means Radiant One. My egg mother and father named me thus so that I would grow into the name. Radiant One means King"
Kajira held an apple out to Gladure. "Here, eat this." She pushed it past the dragon's front teeth and onto his tongue. This might sound like a very icky thing to have done, but Kajira had spent most of her life nursing animals to health, and she was used to icky things. "It seems pretty useless to me to be King, if you are King of nothing at all."
Gladure swallowed quickly, without chewing. "To be King is to be King. It does not matter if you are King of yourself, or King of all there is. This apple has no taste."
"That's because you didn't chew it, silly. Here, try another one". Kajira put another apple into the dragon's mouth. "Now chew it, don't just swallow it. It's not a sheep, you know", she said in her best motherly sounding voice.
Gladure moved the apple between two of his great teeth and with a crunch, exploded the apple in to his mouth. His eyes opened a bit wider, and snorted a small sort of surprise. "So that's an apple. I must say, I don't know what I expected, but I do think you made far to much of such a little thing." He swallowed and asked, "Can I have another?"
"Of course you may", said Kajira.
And that was how they spent that whole day, eating apples and making small talk about nothing at all. Great dragon and small girl, just talking. Gladure found out more about the small animals and life as a human, and Kajira found out more about what it is like to be a dragon sitting on a mountain top.
And this is how we shall leave them, today, beloveds. I do not want to leave, but here are errands to run, and things to see, and people to speak with. As the story unfolds this evening, I will write more.
StoryTeller
