Come back, Fnor cried. Maybe he was dreaming.
Canth rumbled with amusement. How would you like to see a man as large to you as I am to her?
Canth, do you realize that that was a fire lizard?
Certainly.
I actually had a fire lizard on my arm! Do you realize how many times people have tried to catch one of those creatures? Fnor stopped, savoring the experience. He was probably the first man to get that close to a fire lizard. And the dainty little beauty had registered emotion, understood simple directions and then gone between.
Yes, she went between, Canth confirmed, unmoved.
Why, you big lump of sand, do you realize what that means? Those legends are true. You were bred from something as small as her!
I dont remember, Canth replied, but something in his tone made Fnor realize that the big beasts draconic complacency was a little shaken.
Fnor grinned and stroked Canths muzzle affectionately. How could you, big one? When we-men-have lost so much knowledge and we can record what we know.
There are other ways of remembering important matters, Canth replied.
Just imagine being able to breed tiny fire lizards into a creature the size of you! He was awed, knowing how long it had taken to breed faster landbeasts.
Canth rumbled restlessly. I am useful. She is not.
Id wager shed improve rapidly with a little help. The prospect fascinated Fnor. Would you mind?
Why?
Fnor leaned against the great wedge-shaped head, looping his arm under the jaw, as far as he could reach, feeling extremely fond and proud of his dragon.
No, that was a stupid question for me to ask you, Canth, wasnt it?
Yes.
I wonder how long it would take me to train her.
To do what?
Nothing you cant do better, of course. No, now wait a minute. If, by chance, I could train her to take messages … You said she went between? I wonder if she could be taught to go between, alone, and come back. Ah, but will she come back here to us now? At this juncture, Fnors enthusiasm for the project was deflated by harsh reality.
She comes, Canth said very softly.
Where?
Above your head.
Very slowly, Fnor raised one arm, hand outstretched, palm down.
Little beauty, come where we can admire you. We mean you no harm. Fnor saturated his mental tone with all the reassuring persuasiveness at his command.
A shimmer of gold flickered at the corner of his eye. Then the little lizard hovered at Fnors eye level, just beyond his reach. He ignored Canths amusement that the tiny one was susceptible to flattery.
She is hungry, the big dragon said.
Very slowly Fnor reached into his pouch and drew out a meatroll. He broke off a piece, bent slowly to lay it on the rock at his feet, then backed away.
That is food for you, little one.
The lizard continued to hover, then darted down and, grabbing the meat in her tiny claws, disappeared again.
Fnor squatted down to wait.
In a second, the dragonette returned, ravenous hunger foremost in her delicate thoughts along with a wistful plea. As Fnor broke off another portion, he tried to dampen his elation. If hunger could be the leash … Patiently he fed her tiny bits, each time placing the food nearer to him until he got her to take the final morsel from his fingers. As she cocked her head at him, not quite sated, though she had eaten enough to satisfy a grown man, he ventured to stroke an eye ridge with a gentle fingertip.
The inner lids of the tiny opalescent eyes closed one by one as she abandoned herself to the caress.
She is a hatchling. You have Impressed her, Canth told him very softly.
A hatchling?
She is the little sister of my blood after all and so must come from an egg, Canth replied reasonably.
There are others?
Of course. Down on the beach.
Fnor, careful not to disturb the little lizard, turned his head over his shoulder. He had been so engrossed in the one at hand, he hadnt even heard above the surf sounds the, pitiful squawks which were issuing from the litter of shining wings and bodies. There seemed to be hundreds of them on the beach, above the high-tide mark, about twenty dragon lengths from him.