The next month would have been sheer torture for Crutchy, had he not discovered Gardrania was willing to show him around the woods where she made her home. She taught him how to use a bow, not an easy feat, considering he only had the use of one leg and needed one hand to hold his crutch. This suited Race and Medda just fine, because while they were gone the two of them were free to do whatever they wanted.

Race had found out that Gardrania had a recipe for "all natural" beer, which he had struggled to make(finally pulling it off). He sat in her home made hammock sipping a glass of beer. Medda came out of the house and sat down carefully beside him.

"We're alone," she told him.

"I know." After saying this he leaned over to put his beer down, but accidentally leaned too far. The hammock tipped over, and Race coincidentally landed on top of Medda. Before she could get up, he kissed her and felt her respond.

"You know, if you wanted me to kiss you, you could have said something," she told him teasingly when they finally broke their kiss.

"I know," he replied. "I wanted to do somethin' you weren't expectin'."

Medda leaned over to kiss him when they heard a voice.

"How touching."

The pair stood up guiltily, brushing grass and dead leaves off their clothes. Who they saw surprised both of them. A boy of about sixteen or seventeen years stared at them. His dirty blond hair fell into the one good eye he had—the other was covered by a patch. "I 'spose whoever lives here don't know you're doin' this?"

"They ain't home."

"They?" the boy asked with a hint of amusement in his voice. He was taller than Race by about an inch, so when Race walked over to him he had to look up slightly to talk to his face.

"Look, Blink, just because your older than me don't mean that you gotta insult me. I know you think your better than me, but you're wrong. 'Cause if that's the way you feel, I'm the one that's better."

Blink scowled at Race a moment before looking at Medda. "Hey, Medda. Howzit rollin'?" he said, nodding to her. She smiled at him.

Race turned to walk back to his half finished beer only to find Crutchy standing over it. He shifted his weight on his crutch and said, "Heya Race. Amazin' ya didn't finish this. What were ya doin'?"

"None of your business."

"Oooo. Touchy, ain't we?"

Race stormed into the house and Medda sighed. Just then, Gardrania and Ista appeared in the clearing. Blink's eye grew wide, and he walked over to her. Kissing her hand, he said, "Allow me to introduce meself. I'm Kid Blink."

Crutchy walked over to stand in front of Blink. Smiling sweetly, he said, "But he'd rather be called Blink," and he elbowed him as hard as he could in the stomach. Blink doubled over in pain. Oops, Crutchy thought sarcastically. Too low.

They're fighting over you, Ista observed.

I know, Gardrania replied.

You like Crutchy quite a bit, don't you?

Of course not! she almost yelled out loud. What even gave you that idea! Ista rolled her eyes.

When Blink recovered sufficiently enough to stand up, Crutchy said to him, "Blink, this is Gardrania." Quietly, so only Blink could hear, he said, "Don't go near her, or I swear, you'll be sorry. I'll get Race to do sometin' to you. He understands this sorta thing."

"Oh, he understands it, all right," Blink said with a humorless laugh.

Gardrania gave them a wondering glance, then went back into the forest to find dinner. Crutchy brought Blink into the house to show him around, leaving Medda alone outside. Almost immediately a tall, blond haired man walked into the clearing. He was good looking, Medda supposed, but she preferred Race's subtle looks to this strange man's.

He walked right up to her. "Excuse me," he said in a deep voice, "but are you the owner of this house?"

Medda promptly decided she didn't like this guy, whoever he was. Therefore, she thought, I will lie. "Why, no, it belongs to my mother." As an afterthought she added, "She's away on a business trip right now."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Well, maybe you can help me then. I'm looking for a girl; younger than you, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. A little lizard follows her everywhere."

Yep, Medda thought, he's looking for Gardrania. I'll kill myself before I tell him where she is. "Well, there're plenty of girls with brown hair and brown eyes," she said, smiling pleasantly. "But I've never seen any with a lizard."

"May I have a look inside your house, ma'am?"

"Sure," she willingly complied, knowing he wouldn't find anything. They walked into the house, and Medda was greeted by two bored stares. Blink was sprawled out on the floor, while Race stared moodily off into space. Crutchy was nowhere to be seen. She figured he was in one of the bedrooms at the back of the house.

But when she went back to look, it wasn't him. In fact, she could tell that before she got into the room. "Get out of this house!" she yelled at a thirteen year old boy with brown hair.

The boy almost dropped the cigar he was smoking out of his mouth. "Why're you here?" he said disbelievingly. "And another thing—where is here?"

Medda rolled her eyes. "Snipes, come here."

Snipes stepped forward. "What?"

Medda grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him out to the main room. "George," she said looking at Race, "bring him outside, please. We have a guest."

"Yeah, I guess we do," Race said, pointedly loud enough for the man to hear the insult in his tone. Then he grinned at Medda and put his hand on Snipes's shoulder, steering him out the door.

When they had left, the man looked at Medda. "If you see the girl I'm looking for, look me up. My name is Stamel."

"Sure, I'll do that," she told him. Five minutes later, she went to the door, and, making sure Stamel had gone, called out to Race, "Alright, you can come back in now. But make sure Snipes puts out that cigar!"

Crutchy then made an appearance as he walked over to the door, just as Snipes and Race walked through. "Heya, Snipes. What's happenin' back home?"

"Aw, nothin' much. Jack's wonderin' 'bout ya, Crutchy. Mush came down wi' somethin'. I dunno what. He was pukin' an' everythin'," Snipes summarized.

"Yeah." Crutchy turned to follow them in. "Poor Boots. He's gotta sleep under 'im."

"Um, yeah," Blink added from the floor. "He took your bed, Crutchy. After that first night—"

"Don't say it," Snipes said, holding out his hand. "I had to watch it, remember?"

Blink grinned. "What's fer dinner?"

Snipes perked up. "Dinner?"

"Whatd'ya think's fer dinner?" Crutchy questioned. "Whatever Drania brings back."

Race snorted. "That could be anything from dirt to a cow. A live cow," he added maliciously. "That we have to slaughter ourselves. Yum, yum, boy, am I hungry."

Snipes suddenly looked about as sick as Crutchy imagined Mush did.

We're back, Ista suddenly announced inside all of their heads. A few moments later, Gardrania walked through the door carrying some roots and wild vegetables. Behind her was Ista, with a dead squirrel in her mouth and a rabbit in her forearms. She was hopping on her hind legs while she utilized her "hands".

"Oh, darn, no live cow," Race said quietly to Snipes.

Medda glanced at him warningly before taking the vegetation from Gardrania and setting it on the crudely carved wooden table. "Crutchy, cook these."

"Yes, ma'am!"

She pulled his hat down over his eyes as she walked past him to get the animals from Ista. While he chopped the vegetables and boiled some water he listened to Medda tell Gardrania what had happened.

Medda finished by saying, "Oh, and he said his name was Stamel."

Oh, we know him, Ista said from the floor, picking up a piece of raw squirrel meat.

"Yeah. He's been looking for me ever since he heard I could talk to any dragon."

"I thought dragons talked to you," Medda said bluntly. Gardrania smiled slightly, nodding.

Crutchy stuck his finger in the soup to taste it. "So, this Stamel guy, is he dangerous?"

Race choked and elbowed Blink. "See? What'd I tell ya?"

"What? What! So I'm concerned with my friend's safety! Ya got a problem wi' that!"

Blink couldn't control himself any longer. "Friend!" he gasped. Snipes was rolling on the floor wheezing.

Gardrania gave Crutchy a confused look. He shrugged, glaring at his three hysterical friends. He sighed, thinking, it's gonna be a long night.

--

Gardrania had her own room, as did Medda. The boys slept in the main room. They had wanted it that way. So, she sat in her own room, taking out the braid she had in her hair, and then combing it. She was going to go talk to Medda, but when she heard a door shut, she instinctively knew Medda already had company. Of course, Gardrania thought, I don't want to get into Medda's personal life, but why would she want Race in her bed? I mean, I can think of better people—

Why, thinking of inviting one of them in here? Ista said dryly.

"No, but if I was, then it would not be Race."

I know, it would be Crutchy.

"You know me too well, Ista," Gardrania said laughingly, twisting a strand of her dark hair around her finger.

Of course I do. Now go to sleep. To the dragon's surprise, she did, and Ista settled down by her head.

--

Crutchy was woken up very suddenly in the middle of the night by quiet voices at the back of the house. Gardrania and Medda? he thought. Now? That's when he realized that he didn't see the lump on the floor that he had come to know as Race's sleeping form. He got up as quietly as he could to go investigate. Reaching the door to Medda's room, he stopped and rubbed his eyes. He was about to know when the door opened. Deciding that it was probably Medda—or maybe Race or Gardrania, he said, "Y'know, I can't get no sleep in this house. Every night there's—" Taking a closer look, he realized that it was not Medda. "Hey, Mush! Howja get here?"

"I don't know," Mush said, sounding a little confused. "Would you happen to know why Race and Medda are together in one bed?"

Crutchy grinned slowly. "Indeed I do. Oh, yes, he'll never do anything to me again." At Mush's confused look, he added, "C'mon, it's a long story. I'll tell you the whole thing."