Later Sophie had been moved to the village in a cloth stretcher carried by Ahnarie and Kerander. The lander was hidden farther back in the trees during the process and the two dragons didn’t asked about the unmarked bower. Back in the village Edwarg had laid out piles of straw and cotton in a shallow bed at the edge of the infirmary to ease the pressure on Sophie’s chest and they’d put a cast on her left leg to hold the bones in place while they healed. Though she slept almost constantly, the story of her brush with death quickly spread through the village, minus any mention of the lander, and she would have been overwhelmed to know how many telfs and dTur came by to sit with her and wish her well.
Hardt they kept hidden in the hastily built bower near the waterfall. Nahni got a great deal of practice partner flying while she and Dorat brought out bedding and stone for a small hearth and other necessities. Akai wove the trees over him and marked them with her own vines and ladybugs to keep away prying eyes. The lander was rarely alone. Edwarg crept away from the village each evening with Nahni and slept in the bower with the Lander while Nyah and Akai crept away in the daytimes to check on him.
After five nights and three more secret midnight conferences which were entirely overheard by Danny, Deg hauled himself off of the eggs and by fits and starts walked over to the infirmary. The infirmary, to isolate contagion, was located far from the entrances to the burrow and the dragons’ local bowers and Sophie had been bedded down as far from the other invalids as could be managed in case she spoke of the lander injudiciously. Deg, who knew her sensitivity to the anti-lander sentiment floating around in certain factions of the dTelfur, knew that the healers’ caution was unnecessary. When he entered the infirmary, whose leathern roof was miraculously high enough to admit even him comfortably, there were only three other patients, one dTur and two telfs all sleeping, and Nyah was setting up a folding wall between them and the entrance.
A larger folding wall had been set up to isolate Sophie from the activity of the main room so she could sleep without disturbance. Deg could only peek over the wall at his broken friend until Nyah hurried over and pulled it aside for him. Sophie was leaning against a host of pillows on her right side, leaving much of the left rib-cage and her left front leg off the ground. The left side of her chest was horribly discolored and the ground nearby was covered with dead scales from localized shedding. The leg was wrapped in an immobilizing cast from the elbow joint down to the ankle. The elbow and foot themselves were a myriad of nasty and unnatural shades of yellow and brown and green and two of her three toes were tied together with willow reeds. However, there was little remaining evidence of any injury to her head.
“Do you approve of our work, Deg?” Nyah had settled herself in one of several chairs set up at the head of Sophie’s bed. The healer had a leg tucked up on the chair and wrapped her arms around the knee, resting her chin as she watched Sophie. She looked exhausted.
“You don’t need my approval, Nyah. I just wanted to see all of the injuries I’ve heard so much about.”
“Did you see her tail? The bruising has dissipated everywhere except where we think he banged his head. You see how the scaling is blackened? Those are the new scales. She doesn’t feel any particular pain there, even when we palpate the spot. I’ve no idea what to make of it.”
Deg raised his eyeridges at the woman, “Nyah? You have been stumped?”
She smiled wearily. “Kerander had a look at it. I thought as a dTur healer, he might recognize the phenomena but he’d never seen anything like it either and of course I couldn’t tell him it had been bruised by violent contact with a lander’s face, so he’s not even working with all the information.”
“If it doesn’t bother her and it isn’t spreading, I shouldn’t worry about it.”
“I’m a curious soul, Deg. I can’t help but worry about things I don’t understand.”
They sat in silence for a while, watching Sophie’s chest gently rise and fall. Deg wanted to ask if she was really well enough for this evening’s meeting, but he knew that Nyah would never jeopardize a patient. Nyah meanwhile sat huddled in her chair wondering if Sophie was really well enough for this evening’s meeting. If Dorat was right and the lander had tried to kill Sophie, this could be a mistake. But the lander was so relentless in his apparent concern for the dragon, Nyah and Edwarg doubted his health would improve until he had seen for himself that she was alive and healing. Even in his sleep he called out her name.
“Nyah!” Deg and Nyah were both woken out of a doze by Nahni’s fierce whisper. “He’s outside. Should we bring him in?”
“Before anyone sees him, yes.” She stood up and hurried over to the little dragon peeking in the entrance. “The other patients won’t see a thing, unless you wake them.”
Deg adjusted himself to give as much room behind Sophie’s wall as possible, but Nyah waved at him not to bother. “Edwarg and I will move it to fit everyone.”
Nahni came in first and snuggled into the area between Deg and the eastern wall. Next came Dorat who placed herself in a protective position by Sophie’s head. Edwarg came in leading a very tall man with broad shoulders and haunted eyes. The lander stopped short at the site of Deg and stared up at the huge dragon until Edwarg gently pointed Sophie out to him. He rushed over to her then and, staying a polite distance away to Dorat’s surprise, appeared to take in all her bandages and bruises. He recognized Nyah and pointing at his own forehead and Sophie’s, looked quizzically at her. She responded by smiling and leading him by the elbow up to the stool by the sleeping dragon’s head. She stepped up and ran a hand over the shedding scales where the gash had been and showed him her clean hand.
A relieved smile spread across the man’s whole features and Deg realized the lander was not naturally as pale-skinned as he had first appeared as some color rushed back into the strange face. The lander’s eyes brightened too and he nodded happily around at everyone he recognized and held his hand out, palm up, to Nyah saying in clear dTelfur, “Thank you, Nyah.”
Nyah didn’t know what to do with the offered hand so she set her palm on his and this seemed to amuse him. He moved around the bed making the same gesture to every telf and bowing to every dTur, thanking them each by name until he came to Deg. The man was clearly daunted by the huge old dragon but he took a deep breath and smiled tentatively, saying “I am Hardt.”
Deg spoke slowly and clearly. “Hello Hardt. I am Deg.”
The Lander frowned a moment, spoke a few words in his own language, and bowed with his hands held to his chest.
“Why don’t we wake Sophie and see what she thinks of him.” Dorat interupted the solemn proceedings impatiently. She was not comfortable with the lander in the village and wanted him back out in the river bower as quickly as possible.
Deg nodded his approval of her words if not her behavior. He was admittedly anxious as well to see Sophie’s response to the stranger and it would be good to know what had happened to the two at the waterfall and how they both had gotten there.
Edwarg led the lander, Hardt, over to one of the chairs by Sophie’s head while Nyah stroked the side of Sophie’s muzzle and pulled on an earflap.
“Wake up, Sophie. The lander is here to see you and so is Deg. Wake up now, Sophie.”
The dragon rolled her muzzle away from Nyah and wrinkled her nose at the disturbance. But she must have smelled the crowd in the room for after a moment her eyes blinked open and she raised her head to look around. The lander was glowing with joy to see her moving and could barely keep himself in his chair.
“Deg?” She was greatly concerned to see the old dragon off his eggs.
“I need the exercise. As usual, I should have listened to dTserra.”
Everyone in the room but Deg and Sophie suddenly looked at the lander who reacted strongly to the word. He stood and took several steps towards the old dragon.
“dTserra? dTserra? I am dTserra. I am gone. Why? Thank you.”
Sophie actually knocked the man down as she swung her h
ead around in distress. Nahni and Edwarg both made a dash to catch him as Akai held Dorat back. Nyah vainly tried to calm down Sophie who was bugleing dTserra’s name over and over and thrashing her head back and forth. All the telfs and Nahni dove for the ground to avoid being hit until Deg reached over and laid his head down on top of hers. He purred at her and reassured her much as Nahni was doing with the lander and soon the invalid dragon was calmed.
“Sophie, tell me what happened at the waterfall.” Deg could feel his friend’s heartbeat running wild even though she was no longer thrashing about. He had to get the conversation turned away from dTserra no matter how much everyone longed to know how the lander knew her name. “How did you fall?”
“I didn’t know it was a lander swimming. I scared him and he fell off a rock and was going over the falls so I caught him with my tail.”
“But how did you fall?”
“Well he scared me too and I’d fallen in the water and my wing caught on a rock when I tried to take off and when I twisted to get it loose I banged my head on something.”
Nahni lifted her head from Hardt. “He told me they coasted over the falls and then fell straight out of the air.”
“How did he tell you this?” Deg carefully lifted his head to look at the little dragon.
“He’s very good at pantomime. He saved your life you know, Sophie.”
Sophie shifted her head around so she could see the man rolling slowly over to his knees. He kept his eyes on the ground. “How did he save me?”
Akai spoke up, gently, “He came and found us. Nahni understood his gestures and found you by the waterfall.”
Nyah continued. “When we got to you, we thought you were gone.”
“Gone?” The lander, recognizing the word, looked at Nahni who callously mimed death, which he could have interpreted as sleeping with cross-eyes and your tongue hanging out.
“And then he wouldn’t sleep until he knew you were okay.” Dorat quickly spoke up to forestall the lander reciting his quote again. “So we took him back to the waterfall.”
“And he put his hands on you and you opened your eyes.” Nahni summed up the miracle as no one else could have.
Sophie looked around at them all before she turned back and looked the lander up and down. She lowered her head to the ground and blinked her eyes slowly at him. “Thank you.”
The man looked at her uncertainly and got up to his feet. He brushed off his clothes, took a few steps forward, and put a hand on her muzzle. Everyone in the room held their breath.
“Hello Sophie. I am Hardt.”
The others gathered outside the walled partition while Hardt and Sophie compared their wounds with pantomime and gibberish.
“So what do we do with him now?” Dorat began.
“Well, now, we take him back to the falls side bower and give him a chance to heal and rest.” Edwarg was testy from lack of sleep.
“Yes, but then do we just face him eastward and give him a firm push on the back?”
Akai spoke up, “What if he was coming here? Why else would he be so far west?”
“Sophie may have brought him. We all know her fascination with the landers.” Nyah’s attention was divided by her concern for what the two patients were doing with each other.
Deg turned to Nahni, “What do you think should be done with him?”
“Hardt?” The little dragon was surprised to be asked. “I like him. And he knows something about dTserra. So we should teach him dTelfur until he can tell us what he wants to about her.”
“That’s a very good idea, little soul.” Deg turned to the rest of the conspirators. “Now we have the question of keeping his presence a secret. You are right Edwarg, he should stay at least until he is stronger. Then we will return to him his things and see which way he wants to go.”
They all burst out with objections but Akai spoke loudest. “What things? He had absolutely nothing when we found him.”
“Well there is the cloth he used to bandage her head.” Nyah remembered. “I’ve washed it out and hidden it in my rooms.”
“And also there is the clothing, staff, pack, and other small items Danny found on the eastern bank upstream from the waterfall.” Deg admitted. “We’ve hidden them near the hatching grounds.”
“You told Danny?!” The conspirators were furious.
“He wasn’t asleep when Nyah came by the first night. And he’s as exited as Nahni to meet a real live lander.” Deg was unremorseful. “There is a dragon head carved into the top of Hardt’s staff. You’ll be impressed with the artistry, Akai.”
“That’s as may be. But we shouldn’t any of us tell anyone else and that goes for Danny, too.”
“And Sophie.” Edwarg pointed out.
“True.”
“What if he stays?” Nahni was nervous about speaking up in front of all of the adults, but she didn’t want Hardt to have to stay hidden forever. “What if Akai is right and when we give him back his things he wants to stay with us? Can we tell Konifer then?”
A rumble of laughter started deep in Deg’s throat and passed around to most of the group.
“Sweetheart, Konifer isn’t the only dTelfur we’re worried about.”
“But she’s right, Nyah. He is the one we’re afraid of.” Dorat pat the healer on the shoulder and wandered away to glance in on the two invalids.
“So what do we do Deg? If he wants to stay with us I’d think it would have to be a community decision. A whole lot of people will follow Konifer’s decision on this.” Edwarg turned back to the counselor.
Akai scolded him. “And a whole lot of dTelfur will follow Deg’s decision.”
“I would hope that the majority of dTelfur will think it through for themselves.” This from Nyah who had no issue with Konifer. “And if the community decides he shouldn’t stay in the village, that’s not to stop him from setting up home in the falls side bower.”
“We are agreed then that if the lander decides to stay, we will present him to the community and come clean with our duplicity? And until then we will keep this secret amongst us,” Deg made a show of counting, “eight?”
“Nine.”
Deg turned to Nahni, uncertain of whom he’d missed. “Nine?”
“Hardt makes nine.”
“Alright, nine. But can we agree not to blame him if he doesn’t understand that he’s meant to be a secret?”
“Absolutely.” Nahni failed to catch the humor.
“Are there any dissenters?”
One by one the available conspirators agreed. It was decided that they should meet again when Edwarg and Nyah felt that Hardt was strong enough to be released from his private infirmary. The meeting would take place in Sophie’s walled-off section of the infirmary, barring any unforeseen medical outbreaks, and Danny was reluctantly invited to attend. Nyah volunteered to explain the situation to Sophie later, when the dragon was less medicated.
Everything settled, Dorat bade everyone a good night and slipped out the front to do a private reconnaissance of the area in case any dTelfur had happened to wander by and overhear the unusual conference. Nyah saw her to the door and stepped behind the other wall to check on her three other patients. Deg suggested that Edwarg take a night off and get some rest, leaving Hardt with Nahni and Akai. But Edwarg pointed out that the man would probably be more comfortable with another biped around. So Deg went back into Sophie’s room with the rest long enough to say his good nights to her and the lander and then asked Akai to help him return to the nesting grounds. He’d no doubts that he’d have plenty of opportunity to interact with their new friend in the future.
Edwarg dosed unintentionally while Nahni filled Sophie in on everything Nyah was supposed to tell her later and Sophie told the young dragon in detail about how she and Hardt had come to save each other at the waterfall. Nahni realized that the dragon’s medication was responsible for her new variation of the events and was polite enough not to say a thing to dissuade her. Hardt kneeled in the pillows at Sophi
e’s side and watched the two dragons converse with fascination. He responded when they spoke to him and tried to imitate some of their sounds.
When Nyah returned she found them happily playing infant word games with him. But Hardt was pale and Sophie’s eyes dimming, so the healer woke Edwarg and bustled he and Nahni and their patient out of the infirmary and on their way back to the waterfall.
Nyah watched Nahni take off with some concern that she was overloaded with two passengers, but the little one seemed to lift off without a problem and neither telf, or rather neither telf nor lander, fell. As they flew off, she saw a hand waving and heard the lander shout “Hello, Nyah!” And she prayed with all her soul that he wasn’t the one who had killed dTserra.
Four
∞
Eight nights later Danny could hardly sit still under the infirmary awning. Nyah had come that morning to the hatching ground with the news that the Lander had recovered sufficiently from his wounds and the infirmary was conveniently cleared of all patients but Sophie so the meeting could take place that evening. Everyone involved would prefer to meet outside the village, by the waterfall, but Sophie couldn’t be moved and wouldn’t relinquish her place at the meeting so again they were to gather at the infirmary as Aeschent, the far moon, set.
Danny had managed to control his excitement when he asked Hendry and Tcoa to sit the eggs that night while he helped Deg get some exercise. The two eager young hatching dragons were too exited about Deg moving to be at all suspicious. Neither had sat a hatching egg yet either and the chance that one of them might hatch one of Deg’s personal cache would have them quarrelling all day even though any of the older hatchers could have pointed out that Deg wouldn’t be leaving the nest if a hatching of any of the eggs were imminent.
He’d been patient when the entire nursery had come by with lunch for Deg and stuck around to ask questions about eggs and hatching and souls. One precocious twenty year old had distracted him with questions and theories about mating for about a half an hour.
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