Edith had not given me much of a choice. I was quite tired of ‘do or die’ choices in my life by now. I could take Cassia with me and leave. That was true. Perhaps this Mortimer would be able to help Cassia without Edith killing herself with an untested potion. The child would likely perish, however.

  It wasn’t my child. I didn’t particularly care whether it lived or died. From what I had seen, its death might even be a mercy. I knew that my Cassia would be angry with me if I let Edith die trying to save her. What she would think about abandoning another child on the other hand, was more complicated.

  If only I was in the dream where I could ask her. I didn’t think trying to take a quick nap would let me pop in. I’d used quite a lot of something I didn’t know the name to, to pull that stunt in the dream. It would take me longer than we had time for, for me to recover it.

  I searched Edith’s eyes. They were the color of a pine tree’s inner bark, a deep brown run through with flecks of amber. While I was angry with her, I could admit that I still liked her. In the short time I had spent at her house, she had been nothing but welcoming. She owed me nothing, but she had helped me and Cassia without asking for payment. Until now. Even then, what she wanted was for someone else’s benefit.

  She was hard working. That much was obvious from the moment we’d met. While she tended to speak too much for my liking, she rarely said anything unkind. If anything, she was deeply curious about others and spent much of her time asking about things outside of herself. Her laugh was full of a life well lived.

  All in all, I found myself in a difficult position. If I was honest, I did not want Edith to die. She was being stupid, maybe even selfish in a roundabout fashion. That didn’t mean what she wanted was bad. She just didn’t see any other way forward.

  If I had looked into her eyes and seen nothing but over-confidence and certainty, I would have taken Cassia and left. But she wasn’t. She claimed she was ready to put her life on the line, but the woman was deeply scared of what might happen. She persisted in spite of that.

  “Three drops. No more,” I finally said to her.

  “Okay. Okay good,” she replied tersely. “Do you need me to…” I didn’t let her finish that question. I flexed one of my claws on my forelimbs. With some difficulty, I curled my digit and dug the claw into the softer pad scales of that foot. There was some resistance, but the claw finally poked through.

  Edith knelt down next to me, holding the vial carefully in her hands. I raised up my foot to her and she pulled the wax off the end of the vial. With great care, I clenched my injured foot. It took time, but a small ruby droplet was formed. It took ages, but at last it grew heavy enough to fall. I watched it drop into the vial with all the focus of stalking my prey. I could have sworn the droplet sparked with energy before it landed in the green-gold fluid and dispersed. Two more drops followed soon after.

  I withdrew my foot and licked it with my tongue until I was sure that the wound was sealed. Edith took the vial and stood by the potion table. She used a thin stick made from the same crystal substance and stirred the vial until the blood was evenly mixed in. When she gave a small gasp, I turned to look at what she held.

  The entire mixture was now a shining ruby red like my scales. Before, the sun had made the potion give off a false glow. Now it truly shined all on its own. Edith seemed mesmerized by it, her hands shaking softly.

  “Edith,” I growled as gently as I could. “Be careful.” The words seemed to draw her out of her trance. She breathed in through her nose and out of her lips slowly. With great care, she took the vial and poured its contents equally into three thimbles. She ensured every last dribble was poured.

  Two thimbles she left on the potion table. The third, she carried with her into the center of the open floor. She sat down on the rug there, staring at the shining liquid in her palm. I recognized that look. It was one that I made when I found something fascinating, even when it was ill advised to mess with it.

  A thought floated into my mind. My blood was a part of me just like my scales or my gemstone. My magic, if that’s what it was, seemed to only come out when I wanted something with great desire. Before Edith could drink the potion, I spoke.

  “Wait. Not long. Wait.” She looked at me with a furrowed brow as I moved over to Cassia. My claws delicately hooked onto the cord holding the amulet where my gemstone rested. With great care, I pulled it off of my Cassia’s neck and over her head, making a mess of her hair in the process. Hopefully she’d forgive me for that and temporarily depriving her of my gemstone when she woke up.

  I carried the little amulet over to Edith and offered it to her.

  “Take,” I said, holding it out to her between my claws.

  “You want me to wear this, dragon? Isn’t this your lass’s keepsake?” Edith asked me. She was reasonably confused. I didn't even really understand what I was doing. It just felt right.

  “Mine,” I responded to her. The gemstone was mine, ultimately. It shined with a very similar hue to the potion. Maybe the two were connected.

  “Well if this is a proposal young man, it is a poor one,” Edith said hotly. I didn’t understand what she meant and it showed. “That means I am not yours, just because you let me wear this fancy bauble.”

  Oh, she thought I was claiming her as Mine. I shook my head. One of these days I was going to sit down with a human book and learn all those big complicated words to say these kind of things.

  “It help,” I insisted more firmly.

  “... Will it? You’re sure of that?” she asked quietly, staring at the gem between my claws. I could not explain why, but yes I was certain. I nudged it at her again. With her free hand, she reached out and delicately scooped the amulet into her palm.

  “You know, once upon a time, I had a lad I fancied. I’d have loved it if he gave me something like this. He never did. Fancy it being a dragon, who wanted me to wear something this beautiful.”

  While I was pleased that she appreciated my gemstone’s beauty, that wasn’t why I gave it to her temporarily. If she wanted something else to wear after this was over, I could probably find something as a way to thank her. She had to live through this first.

  With greater skill than I expected, Edith looped the cord around her neck one handed. She had to let her hair down to do it. Her dark locks cascaded down her back. When she pulled her hair through the cord, it rippled like a wave across the black of night sky.

  The gem rested against her skin just below her neck. It sat higher up on her than it did my Cassia. My eyes lingered on it. I swore I could see something glimmering within it that was not reflected sunlight.

  “Hey now beasty, eyes on the prize, aye?” Edith said. She reached her hand out to gently nudge my head to look her in the eyes. I permitted her to do so, but she didn’t press her luck by trying to scritch me. “Bottoms up.”

  Edith raised the shining thimble to her lips and drank its contents.

  “I don’t understand it Archibald,” a thin wheezing voice said in the dark of an overcrowded room. Books were piled on every available surface. When the occupant had run out of bookshelves they had used tables. When they ran out of tables, they had used the floor. When floor space became scarce, the books had been stacked up close to the ceiling. It was a miracle that a landslide of aging paper did not happen at any moment.

  “It just doesn’t make any sense. Once might have been a fluke, a happenstance of circumstance. But twice in just under a day?” The wizened hands of an old man thrust a crystal ball at a white raven. The bird was perched on the back of a chair, one of the few places not piled high with books. “It about blinded me the first time the orb went off. Thank the gods that I had my special lenses on for the second time.”

  “What do you think Archibald? Could it happen again? Magic like that doesn’t just grow on trees you know.” The raven regarded the raving lunatic it called a master. Even if the bird had been able to speak, the old man wouldn’t have let it get a word in. Archibald ruffled its wings in response.

  “No. No you’re right. Whatever it was is probably over. Maybe if I find my staff I’ll go see what it was sometime.”

  The orb chose that moment to start flickering. Archibald wisely ducked his head under his wing.

  “Well would you look at that Archibald. It’s started up again. What could cause such a disturbance?”

  The orb, which got brighter as more magic happened nearby, lit up like the sun.

  “HOLY SHI-”

  At once I could tell that the potion was effective. Edith was lit up with the glow of life. A gasp passed her lips as the thimble dropped from her fingers. She slid bonelessly onto her back on the floor. She wasn’t unconscious, but her eyes were staring at something I couldn’t see. The weight of years that sat on her seemed to lift away like flame from kindling.

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  I could see the potion coursing through her veins, spreading out from her core. Her body shook as it did so, muscles flexing as years of built up wear and tear vacated the body simultaneously. My gem hanging from her neck blazed with light.

  It was too much life. Edith was a healthy woman in spite of her years. The potion ran out of things to heal quickly. After that, it had nowhere to go. Edith’s long black hair grew lustrous and vibrant, visibly elongating. As she continued to gasp, the huskiness in her voice mellowed into a richer sound. Even her nails on her hands grew at a shocking speed.

  I was no expert on humans, but I knew a little about living things. Too much growth too fast could kill. Like a vine strangling itself before it could fruit, or a tree branch reaching too close to the sun without setting down proper roots. Too much healing was going to kill Edith.

  I reached out with my foot and placed it on top of my gemstone. It was burning hotter than an open flame. That heat was burning Edith, but she was healing so fast that it didn’t leave a mark. I was beginning to understand more now. The gem was a part of me. It could contain some of my power. Right now it was overflowing. If Edith hadn’t been wearing it, she may well have already perished.

  The moment I breathed my first fire came to mind. In spite of annihilating the Vile Tree, Rotting Bear, and entire hillside, my fire had left my Cassia untouched. Only the corruption had been burned out of her. My magic would not harm the things that were Mine.

  Edith was not Mine. That wasn’t her fault, but it might kill her right now. I didn’t want that to happen. The excess magic boiling inside of her, however, was Mine. It had dispersed through her flesh, but I could still feel it.

  I remembered how it had felt when I had called upon the magic of the dream. It was as simple as breathing. Lowering my head to where Edith was gasping for air, mouth open, I breathed in. In response, her back arched. Her hands dug into the rug, grasping for anything to hold on to. My claws dug into the skin of her chest as I held on to my burning gemstone.

  The magic struggled against me. It was like fighting for handfuls of sand. Dispersed as it was, it did not want to cooperate. My wings extended to their full span on my back as I hissed. It was My Magic. How dare it not come when I called.

  It was trying to hide in Edith’s blood, acting like it belonged there. It was just a house guest. I demanded that it come home where it belonged. I had plenty of experience being a ‘bad dragon’ and getting scolded for it. My own magic would do as it was told!

  I bit onto Edith’s shoulder as she bucked underneath me. Her vitality was there, waiting for me if I reached out to take it. When the gnawing Greed in my blood spoke up, it was blasted back down by my fury. I was the master of my body, my magic, my blood.

  If Edith felt regret for this course of action later, maybe I’d ask her for a little vitality as an apology. Right now I was busy trying to keep her foolish self alive.

  One of Edith’s hands lashed out. Her elongated nails caught the membrane of my extended wing. The pain made me bite down a little too hard. I tasted Edith’s blood in my maw. It was just blood, however. Her vitality cowered inside of her where I ordered it to stay.

  Edith’s hand latched onto the back of my neck, digging into me as she thrashed. Bit by bit, I corralled the magic. It concentrated itself in her shoulder where I’d bit her, flowing back into me through my teeth. At long last, it exited out of her. On the way out it healed the bite mark, but left a scar behind.

  Edith slumped to the ground, finally letting go of me. I slid off of her. As I did, I closed my claws around my gemstone and tugged it off of her. It was still burning hot, smoldering in its wooden amulet. Tugging on it broke the cord, but I’d get another. Until I more fully understood how it worked, I’d be holding onto it.

  It would be awkward if it exploded and hurt someone.

  I gave Edith some space. It had been her choice to drink the potion. She wasn’t dead. I had also just bit her hard enough to leave a scar and ridden on top of her like she was a yearling stallion. She probably had a lot on her mind right now.

  In the meantime I inspected my wing. The membrane had a pair of gashes in it about four inches in length. Based on past experiences, they would take a couple of days to heal. That meant no flying for me. I wasn’t planning on leaving, but it could be a potential issue.

  Edith sat up off of the ground. I looked back at her. She was quite a mess. A very healthy looking mess. The potion had lifted a decade off of her shoulders, but sudden onset youth came with a price.

  Namely, her lustrous black hair was hanging around her in a wide puddle. There was entirely too much of it and it was evidently getting in the way of her moving. The nails on her hands and feet were now long and twisted. It looked uncomfortable. Edith caught me staring at her, using her forearms to part her hair from her face.

  “... Please never tell anyone about how I look right now.” It was a surprising request. I wasn’t exactly a big talker to begin with. Maybe it was one of those ‘young lady’ concerns Cassia talked about. Edith probably counted as a young lady now. I nodded my understanding.

  Extracting Edith from her situation proved to be complicated. Her nails were disposed of with a small pair of shears that she had me retrieve from a cabinet. The cuttings went straight into the fire and were never to be spoken of again. The problem was Edith’s hair. Even when we got her standing upright, it pooled on the floor around her feet. Hair didn’t seem heavy until there was suddenly a ton of it.

  On top of that, Edith seemed strangely reluctant to remove any of it. She kept stroking it with her fingers, seeming to marvel at its depth and luster. If she wanted to walk, however, it was liable to get caught around her feet or random bits of furniture. After some trial and error, Edith managed to bundle it up into a rough braid. Even braided, it hung to her ankles.

  “I knew I’d have back pain as I got older. I didn’t imagine that this would be the cause,” she mused out loud. She’d not mentioned the scar on her shoulder yet. It was impossible that she hadn’t noticed. She’d been awake for the entire ordeal. Maybe she was waiting until the child was safe before we came into conflict.

  “I owe you, dragon,” she finally said to me.

  ‘Well that’s a change of pace.’

  “If you hadn’t done whatever you did, I’d be dead now. It would have been a terrible way to go as well. I do not yet know how I will repay you. I must ask, do you think you can control the potion’s effects if the others drink it?”

  That was a reasonable question. Now that I knew what would happen, I would be able to catch the magic early, before it dispersed too heavily. I didn’t plan on biting any other humans today if I could help it.

  “Yes,” I said simply.

  “It is selfish to ask, but may the child drink first?” Edith requested. I looked back at Cassia on her cot. She was, in spite of everything, sleeping soundly. I didn’t say it, but I was still worried about the potion’s effect. I’d prefer to get more practice controlling it before I gave it to my Cassia.

  I nodded my head and headed over to the child’s bedroom. It didn’t take long for Edith to grab the next dose of the potion and join me. As before, I let her enter first. I didn’t expect the cry of dismay she gave.

  When I entered the room, the child was a frayed thread from death. Their breath came out as whisper quiet groans. It was the sound of dying. Edith was frozen, locked up in despair.

  With little time left, I nipped her on her hindquarters. She gave a yelp, forced into motion. Her hand pushed the thimble to the child’s open lips. A drop was spilled as her grasp shook with tension, but her thumb swiped it back from where it had splashed on the child’s chin into their lips.

  This time, the magic was slow to respond. It was like trying to fan the flames when only embers remained. I shouldered my way past Edith, hopping my forelimbs up onto the bed next to the child. The bandages hung loosely on their wasted frame. No light shined in those eyes any more. Only the barest glimmer could be seen.

  I opened my maw, again breathing with the flow of magic. Rather than withdraw it, I sought to direct it. The little life inside of the child was hidden in deep corners and crevices. As I cycled air in and out, I pushed and tugged on the magic so that it fell into place. This was not something I could have told someone else how to do. It was a pure gut feeling.

  It took far longer than with Edith, but slowly the sparks of life rekindled into flame. With the older woman, there was only so much the magic could do before it ran out of things to fix. This child had the exact opposite problem. Their wasting illness had saturated their body from the top of their head down to their toes. It was like their body had eaten itself from the inside out.

  A human’s body was a delicate balancing act. If you healed one part but left the rest, it would fail to continue on its own power. Once the first flames were lit, I needed to do the opposite of when I helped Edith. The magic needed to be dispersed evenly through the whole body, nudged and guided around when it pooled too much in one spot.

  The sun was heading toward the horizon by the time I stepped back from the child.

  I could tell that now they were merely sleeping, rather than catatonic. If I’d wanted, I could shake them awake. It was best not to. Their body was still weak, but it would recover. What they needed now was the things a loving family could provide: a warm and safe place to sleep and plenty of nutritious food.

  Edith had stood by my side for a while, but when it became clear that the process would take hours, she had stepped away. Now that I padded out of the child’s room, she stepped around me to check on them. It wasn’t long after I settled down by the fire that she came back.

  “It seems I now owe you twice over, dragon.” She was happy, but she had a complicated expression on her face. “The child will live and for that I will be forever grateful.”

  I could hear the ‘but’ coming, like thunder on the horizon.

  “In truth, I don’t know what to do now. The child’s family have already moved on. They had a funeral, even. Most of the villagers here think I’m a fool, clinging onto the impossible and waiting for a miracle.” That sounded just like another stubborn woman I knew.

  “Lo and behold, a miracle walks in my door in the dead of winter.” I perked up. Yes, she could praise me more. I quite liked that. “The child is healed like magic… But what then? Do I send them back to their family, the one that left them as if they were already dead?”

  Edith played with her fingers through her hair. I didn’t know how to answer her. Human families weren’t something I had any experience with, nor was child rearing. I was barely more than a hatchling myself. Recent events had forced a certain maturity I had been neglecting, but that didn’t really matter here.

  “I suppose… I’m just going to have to figure it out on my own, aren’t I?” Edith said sorrowfully. “I took responsibility for them. I asked you to help save them. Now I’ve got to follow through.”

  I gave a short chuff, blowing hot air between my teeth. I stretched my legs and flexed my claws before tilting my head at Cassia. It wasn’t like me or my Cassia were going anywhere. Not for a little while at least. Worrying about the future could wait until then.

  Edith gave a smile.

  “Yes, you’re right. First things first.”