Chapter 5: Duet
For the next two days, I can't see.
Of course, I still am able to see, I just can't take the bandana off yet. Turtle hasn't "healed" me yet, even though he healed me three days ago.
Turtle's going to do the first test today. I'm not going to be the medicine's recipient, though. We decided on that together, because I don't really have any life-threatening injuries other than my blindness, and that would make it seem like we're misusing the potion. Apparently, though, there's a Rainwing dragonet down in the Rainwing Kingdom that was playing hide-and-seek when she surprised a group of particularly aggressive Nightwings, who gave her quite a beating. They apparently blinded her permanently in both eyes and gave her so many scrapes and cuts that the healers are struggling to save her life. Turtle and Tsunami are heading down together to heal the Rainwing. They should be back by tonight.
"Remember to touch them with the necklace while you're giving them the medicine," I whispered to Turtle before he left. "Don't be too aggressive, though, and don't make it too obvious. A tap will do."
I hope he remembers. This whole plan depends on his memory.
And considering that Turtle forgot how to count to five, I am not very confident in his memory.
In the evening, I'm sitting at my desk, bored again, like I always am these days, when Tsunami joyfully calls out my name. "Starflight!"
I harshly shush her, but I still smile when I hear. At the same time, though, my heart starts beating, because now she's back. In the next few moments, she's going to tell me if the medicine worked or not. If it didn't….I don't even want to think about that.
Thankfully, Turtle's voice speaks before Tsunami can.
"Let's go in the back, shall we?"
We all head into the empty back corner. Someone, probably Turtle, gives me a little push to the side.
"You were going to hit the wall," said Turtle.
"Oh. Thank you, then," I graciously said back.
"We can sit down now," says Turtle.
We all sit. After a little bit of trial-and-error, I finally got myself into a position where I can lean my back against the wall.
"It worked," said Turtle happily.
"It did?" I cautiously confirm.
"It was amazing, Starflight!" Tsunami squealed. "All her cuts, everything, they were all just GONE! Just like you said they would!"
"She even got her vision back!" said Turtle.
I broke out into a broad smile, broader than I'd had in a while. "Really?" I ask. I still can't believe it.
"Yes, really. Starflight, the medicine works. You and Turtle did it," Tsunami tells me. "You did it."
I let out a laugh, a laugh of awe that conveys how impossibly good this whole situation is, and before long we're all laughing my laugh of awe.
"The whole gang - Clay, Sunny - knows about the medicine now. Thankfully, there don't seem to be that many severely injured Rainwings," Turtle tells me. "We should have enough to heal everyone in this batch alone."
"That's great," I say.
There's a pause in the conversation, because I know that we're all thinking the same thing.
"Starflight…if there's some medicine left over…we could give you some, and unblind you," Tsunami tells me.
"Really?" I ask, as if the possibility had never crossed my mind. "But aren't there other dragons who need it more than me?"
"Well, Turtle says that we shouldn't tell anyone else, and I agree. And if we use it to heal someone from another tribe, they'll probably leak the information to the whole continent. The Rainwings are the only tribe we can trust," Tsunami says.
I pause before answering.
"But make sure to give it to the dragons who actually need it first, OK?" I say.
"Sure thing, Starflight," Tsunami says. "Sure thing."
I smile again, this time not because I've saved a life, but because this medicine is going to save mine.
The conversation stalls for a bit. It's awkward because it's one of those times where we've finished talking about everything we needed to but none of us want the conversation to stop.
"We got some good sibling bonding time in," said Turtle, trying to keep the conversation going.
Siblings! I forgot that Turtle and Tsunami were brother and sister. I guess that explains why Turtle went to Tsunami for the HQ request.
"It was nice to talk to one of my brothers for once," said Tsunami. "Even if he wasn't that good at Sleeping Fishes."
I'm pretty sure I read somewhere one time that Sleeping Fishes is a game that Seawing dragonets like to play during long journeys. I'm not a Seawing, though, so I wouldn't know.
"You cheated like every round!" laughed Turtle.
"No I didn't!" laughed Tsunami.
She had, of course, but she actually hadn't realized it. Apparently Turtle had taught Tsunami the game on the flight over, but he'd failed to mention some important rule. They only realized after getting into a playful argument that lasted a solid 5 minutes.
They sounded more like a brother-sister duo than I expected, given that this was only their second or third meaningful chat together. But their chemistry was impeccable. They played off each other like athletes on a team; Tsunami's snarky asides perfectly complemented Turtle's quirky humility.
And Tsunami's going to have another 30 relationships like this. Another 30 duos. Lucky her.
Tsunami was busy, so she wandered off to do whatever she needed to do. Turtle went with her, doing a rundown of all his brothers whose names he knew (he could only name 17) as they left.
Later, Clay, and Sunny all came by to congratulate me. It felt odd to be the center of so much love and attention, even from my friends. I don't think I'd ever heard my name said that positively that many times.
"Starstarstarstarstarstarstarstarstarstar!" their praise sounded in my ears.
Clay left soon after, leaving me and Sunny alone to, as Clay wisely put it, "talk about lover stuff".
Sunny wanted to talk about something else, though.
"You know how my dad can't move?" she asked me.
Most of the students didn't know about Stonemover's residence at Jade Mountain, even though it wasn't a secret or anything. Sunny kept the cave open so that her dad could have visitors, but no one ever visited. Even my empathetic soul hadn't bothered to give the poor dragon a visit, because he was a lost cause. There was no other way to put it.
I knew what Sunny was going to ask next, so I just got right to the point.
"Do you want me to give him some of the medicine?"
Silence from Sunny.
"Yes or no?" I asked her.
"Oh sorry, yes. I was nodding. Silly me!" she said.
"It's OK. Everyone forgets," I reassured her.
"But yeah, I do want him to get the medicine. Because he's perfect for it, isn't he? He's really sick - he can't move, Star! Think about what the medicine could do for him! He could see my mom again. Imagine how happy my mom would be!" Sunny said.
Sunny's best quality is that she's always optimistic. She never thinks about logic, but that's what I'm here for. She's the happy preacher, and I'm the stoic thinker. That's OK with me, though.
"Well, Sun, the reason your father is immobile isn't because he's physically ill, but because he doesn't really have a soul anymore," I told her, thinking it over like the thinker I am. "So the medicine might not physically cure him, but…it might be worth a shot."
"Yay! Thank you Star!" she squealed, hugging me close and giving me a big kiss on my snout. I blushed.
"No, thank you, Sunny," I said. "I honestly hadn't even thought about giving Stonemover the medicine, but you're right. He's immobile. He's lonely. He's depressed. Sorry, but that's the truth. There are probably very few dragons who need it more than him. I mean, I'm blind, but at least I have you. And Clay and Glory and Tsunami and everyone else. But he deserves a second chance at life."
"Thank you, Star," Sunny said again, but this time she said it more quietly and with more genuine emotion attached to it. "Thank you thank you thank you." She hugged me even tighter.
"I'm sorry," Sunny told me, "but I have business with Clay. I've gotta go."
She gave me another big kiss and then left me alone. Strangely enough, I was actually glad when she left.
Not because I didn't love her with all my heart - I did - but because I'd been holding in a cough, and after she left I let all those coughs out and it made my throat feel horrible. I didn't cough in front of her because I remembered that one time back when no one was sure if I was permanently blind or not, and I was still lying in the healing tent, and I coughed without covering my snout. I remember she screamed "Ew!", and I remember how disgusted she sounded. I didn't want her to ever be that disgusted again. Because even though I remember almost every interaction I have with Sunny, I especially remember the disgust in her voice. So I don't cough until she's gone because she doesn't like it when I cough. It's that simple. I bet if I told Clay or someone like him, he'd probably say that I was really weird or something. He'd say, "Just cough! What does it matter? It's a cough!" But dragons like Clay don't understand that in a relationship, you should be prepared to do anything to make your partner as happy as possible. I love Sunny because she does something no one else has the courage to do and she extends this philosophy to apply to everyone. I love Sunny because I know that if I told her that I didn't like it when she coughed in front of me, she'd make a long speech about how she understood, and I'd go on about how I loved her, and both our throats would be exhausted, and we'd both hold in our coughs together until one of us turned away and we both let out furious coughing fits, and knowing Sunny somehow hers would sound melodic.
