[Home, Observe]
We’re in the backroom of the bookstore where I normally write.
“Rose, why do I smell a dragon in my bookstore?”
“Dragon, I’m sorry I forgot to ask your name, I’ll need to introduce you to Sparky.”
“It’s Draco.”
“It’s a pleasure Draco.”
“ROSE, DRAGON.”
“Coming Sparky.”
I escort Draco from the back room and the normally quiet Opal gives a shriek of delight, runs over to the dragon
“Oh Rose, he is so cute, can we keep him?”
“Opal honey, this is Draco, he is an ancient and powerful being, he decides what he wants to do on his own.”
“Draco, do you want to stay with me? You can live in the room where I live with Ruby. I’ll get you any kind of food you want.”
“Ahem, Draco, is it? Just what alignment are you?”
“Ah, Grandmaster Brightspark, what a pleasure to meet such an accomplished magician. Sir I’m a true neutral. But after being in Rose’s charming novella, I’ve almost moved into neutral good territory. Have you read it sir?”
“I read the first section and she has her usual disdain for men.”
“Please read on section two introduces a morally complex male character that from my limited point of view Rose found quite charming.”
“I did Sparky and more importantly so did Maria, my main character.”
Opal asked, “So can he stay Rose?”
“That’s up to Draco and Sparky, sweetie.”
“I don’t eat people Sparky, at this size I can barely burp out a flame. But I do still have all my magic powers, if I could possibly help in any capacity I’d be pleased to do so.”
“Draco, how good are you with magical fields?”
“It’s one of my specialities, do you need one created, expanded or shrunk, Sparky?”
“Created as a matter of fact, please take a walk with Rose and view the new Theater that the Gnomes are building. Let me know if you think you might be able to create a magical field around it. The structure itself is quite large.”
“Rose, please lead me to the theater at once and we’ll assess the situation and report back.”
“We might as well get lunch while we’re out, Opal do you want a sweetbun?”
“Can I go with you Rose?”
I looked over to Sparky and he nodded his head in the affirmative.
“Sure Opal, but we have to go to the theater first alright, and it’s kind of a long walk.”
“She can ride on my back if she’d like to. Any dignity I had went out the window when you shrank me to a German shepherd sized dragon.”
***
Opal climbed right on and was surprised but then delighted when Draco levitated up to about level with my waist. Then we went out the door. People in the neighborhood were used to strange sights around the magical book store but this was extra strange so we picked up a parade of curious onlookers as we went from the store over to the street Madd Maggies was on and further down the lane to where the theater was being constructed. The Teahouse was nearly full and Opal waved like mad to Ruby and Salome
I noticed the empty store next to the bakery had a sign in the window, new business coming soon. It seemed that none of our followers were tired by the long walk as we only seemed to gather more followers as we went along.
***
Then we were there and I saw this huge round building that looked like it was already completed. But from the hammering and sawing sounds coming from inside the gnomes must have completed the entire exterior before moving inside to build the stage and dressing rooms, and the box seats. I’m not a carpenter but from my limited knowledge it looked like they were doing an excellent job albeit at an incredible speed.
“I’d like to go and see the gnomes at work, I’ve heard that they work so well together it’s almost like a dance.”
I went up and knocked on the door, waited a few minutes and then just tried the knob to see if it was locked. It wasn’t, I hesitantly walked inside, the gnomes all seemed to be working on the box seats on the opposite side of the theater. Every gnome seemed to be working in perfect unison. Two gnomes would hold a board in place, two gnomes with hammers would nail said board in place. By then two more gnomes carried in a perfectly cut piece and handed it off to the gnomes that did the holding then the hammerers moved back in.
That’s how it went, the teams even seemed to interact with the teams on either side. The gnomes doing the measuring and sawing were in the middle of the building, working with as much speed and precision as those attaching the boards in place. After watching for a little longer I turned to Draco.
“Is it possible to generate a magical field around a building this size, do you think?”
“Oh yes, the air here is charged with magical energy. Should I do it now or do we need to ask Sparky's permission?”
“Is it dangerous?”
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“No it’s just a magical field, most people never even notice they are in one.”
“Let’s go eat, then we’ll bring Sparky his lunch and if he wants us to we can walk back and do it this afternoon.”
“What do you eat Draco?”
“Every ten years or so I eat a cow, but I just had one a few years ago. But I like a good cup of tea and I also drink Dwarven ale. So you two eat and I’ll have some tea.”
***
So I walked and Draco and Opal floated over to the teahouse. Which was packed. Ruby walked over and told us. It’d be about ten minutes, said hi to Opal and went back to work. I thought back to the day that they opened and not a single customer had come but her and Salome had turned the place around. The teahouse draws in more customers than the bakery.
“Opal honey do you want to get down?”
“No thank you.”
I hoped Draco would stick around for a few days, this was the most animated I’ve seen Opal since the play, where she got to play Tiny Tim. Now the parade that had been following our walk through town lined up behind us. I guess everyone in town wanted to have tea with a dragon today.
Then Ruby was back and a table had opened up, it was magically cleaning itself and setting clean dishes and silverware in places for the new diners.
“Ruby, I'd like to introduce Draco.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Draco, you're better than the pied piper. We’ve never had such a long line of customers before. I better take your order. Rose, we’re looking for help if you know anyone.”
“How about Gigi? I’m not sure how long she’s staying but ..”
“She’s already started, she worked all morning while Salome was busy with bakery duties. Then she had to do something with McCracken at the theater.”
“We were just there but might be going back again later, we didn’t see them but the place is huge and Draco might put a magical field around it so it’ll be usable year round.”
We finally ordered, ate our lunch and Ruby brought Sparky’s three dozen donuts for us to deliver. We’d lost a lot of the parade following us, at the teahouse. But we picked up a few more on the walk back. Some of them even followed us into the bookstore. But Sparky quickly shooed those that weren’t customers out.
“Sparky I can create a magical field around the theater. There is quite a lot of magical energy in the air here compared to where I come from.”
“Okay that would be very helpful. Let’s all take a field trip to the theater. It will do the apprentices good to see a magical field created.”
“Come on Opal, hop on. I know you want to.”
Opal giggled and climbed onto Draco’s back. Off we went again and we did generate a parade but not as large a parade as we previously had. People in Wyldwood were used to strange things and a miniature floating dragon with a fey girl riding on his back would soon be just another day in Wyldwood.
Opal waved to Salome and Ruby when we passed the bakery. Paula came jogging out of the bakery.
“Hi Paula, Draco this is Paula she put up all the money for the theater and is on the board of directors. Paula Draco is going to put a magical field around the theater so it will be usable year round just like the Teahouse, isn’t that great?”
“Sparky, is it safe to make a magical field so large while there are gnomes and humans inside?” Paula asked.
“Yes Paula, quite safe, I just came to instruct my apprentices about the creation of such fields and their uses. The magical field is not just so the theater can operate in bad weather. After the field is up we can move some dressers from the tower. The costumes will clean and repair themselves. It’ll also keep out pests.”
“Oh that’s great, maybe we could move a few sideboards over for the snack bar. Food and drink is the only thing we’ll be charging for and it would be great if we could make one hundred percent profit on that. That money will be going to the actor's retirement home for their food and other expenses. They’ll get free food at the bakery and teahouse as well”
So Paula walked down with us to watch Draco construct the magical field. We walked by the empty store with the coming soon sign.
“Paula, have you met the new owners? Are they nice?”
“Yes, I’ve met them, they seem nice.”
“When are they opening up? Did they tell you?
“The opening date is up in the air, they are trying to line up their suppliers before opening up. If they are lucky they’ll open before the theater opens, which should generate some foot traffic.”
Then we got to the theater, I knocked on the door again, no answer, it was still unlocked. We went in and I grabbed Opal off of Draco’s back while he performed magic. Better safe then sorry. Sparky and Draco talked about magical field logistics for a couple of minutes. Then Sparky began a running commentary for Opal and my benefit. First Draco was determining the exact center of the room. There he would create a tiny magical field. Once that is established, he’d pump in more and more magic expanding the field until it surrounded the entire theater in a ball shaped magical field. We all stood near the door to stay out of his way and also to not distract him.
After a little while I could feel the now familiar feel of the magical field as it approached us and finally passed through and it was done. Draco slowly floated down. He walked rather drunkenly, but from exhaustion. Sparky pulled out a portal muffin and the little blue demon opened a portal to the bakery before greedily eating the muffin.
Luckily the table was free as it was late afternoon by now. Draco laid in the sun and went promptly to sleep.
“Will he be alright Sparky?”
“Yes Rose don’t worry, he’s depleted every drop of magic in his system. He needs rest. No more rides, senior apprentice, for a couple days even if he offers. Understood?”
“Yes, Sparky.”
“That was a great feat of magic, I’m not sure I’d even be able to accomplish it all at once like he just did. He’s done the town a real service.”
“How are we supposed to get him home, Sparky?”
“He’ll probably sleep for a few hours. Just stay here with him while he sleeps, Rose. I’ll make sure Opal gets home okay. If he’s still asleep in a couple hours I’ll ask Lu to carry him through a portal to the tower. Later when you make up a room for him just tell the room you want a dragon's lair. It’ll set up everything just the way he likes it.”
“So you're okay, him staying for a while?”
“Yes absolutely, he can stay for as long as he likes. He can stay for life if he wants. That’s why I want you to make him a nice lair. He did this for you, so he must really like you. Ok Opal lets go, you’ll see Draco and Rose later at home.
Three hours later Lu walked through a portal close to where I was sitting and carried Draco through the portal to the tower. I followed. We found the closest unoccupied room and I requested a Dragons lair. The temperature instantly shot up ten plus degrees and a huge pile of gold coins filled half of the room. Lu laid him gently down right next to his hoard.
Lu and I went back to our bedroom, had our supper and I told her all about my day with the dragons, while she filled me in on all the gossip from the tavern.
