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Romis sat cross-legged on the floor in a darkened room, lit only by a few thick candles in the far corners. He waited, somewhat impatiently, while the old woman before him crooned softly. Her boney, ring-clad fingers smoothed over her large crystal ball over and over again. She was dressed in a variety of bright colors and wore numerous gold bracelets on both wrists and large hoops in her ears. Ordinarily, Romis did not give much credit to so-called fortune tellers, but he had grown desperate. He was just about to get up and leave, when she seemed to “wake-up” from her trance.
“Your journey is long, young dragon.”
Romis jumped a little at those words. He had not told her his true race. Though he had a small version of dragon’s wings, he passed them off as a unique cloak. Aside from his gold-colored eyes, the wings were the only indication of being a nonhuman.
“How did you…”
The woman’s chuckle cut him off, “Rhoda knows all, young one. No more interruptions! Listen well! Madam Rhoda is not in the habit of repeating herself.”
She cleared her throat and began once more.
“Your journey is long. The knowledge you seek is known to one. Three gifts you must bring: Water, Earth, and Air. Far to the north you must travel. I see a long, narrow canyon….a bejeweled cave…”
“Where? I need more than that!”
“I can see no more.”
Irritated, Romis got to his feet and dropped a few coins on the table. He left, leaving the heavy curtains that served as a door swirling in his wake.
Utter nonsense, what kind of gifts are those? Air, water and earth… ridiculous!
“So how’d it go?”
The soft, feminine voice brought his attention to the young woman that had scurried to catch up to him. Her leather boots made barely any noise as she nearly skipped to keep up with her tall friend.
“Waste of good coin. All she gave me was some mumbo jumbo about taking gifts to some mystery person in the far north.”
“Well that sounds like a fun adventure. Where do we start?”
“We don’t, Stella. It’s just a bunch of nonsense,” he practically growled.
“That’s a silly reason,” she chided, now munching on an apple she pulled from her satchel. When that prompted no response she continued. “Look, I know what you think of fortune tellers. And I know you think it’s silly, but Madam Rhoda has never been wrong, and I do mean never. Besides, you’ve tried everything else that either of us can think of.”
Stella darted in front of him and stopped, forcing him to halt and look down at her. Her green eyes softened as she met his gaze and her shoulder-length hair shimmered from lavender to dark blue, “This might be your only chance, Romis. Why not give it a try? After all, you’ve tried everything else.”
He sighed. She had a point. They had been searching for three years now for an answer to why he couldn’t transform. Every lead they’d tried had turned out to either be nonexistent or didn’t work. He looked deep into her green eyes and gave in.
“All right, we’ll give it a shot. Where do you think we should start? Gift of water, air, or earth?”
Stella moved back to walk at his side. “Hmmm, let’s start with water. Maybe this person is a collector and wants pretty things. So maybe a really pretty fish or a special gem like a pearl or something.”
Romis thought about that for a moment. “Perhaps, but I’m still not sure where to even start.”
“That’s part of the fun, Romis. If we’re starting with water, let’s start by going to coast. We can discuss exactly where on the coast over a meal.”
The dragon smiled at his friend and followed her to Underwood’s main tavern. He still didn’t know exactly how this was going to work out, but at least Stella would be happy in the process.
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