GriffinStone: Beautiful and powerful and intimidating. And no one can eat Fontaine, she is possibly my favorite of all fictional characters (at least in my top 5)! Daniels, yeah, that'd be okay, but I think he'd taste super bad. That sounds like a good idea for poor Fontaine.


The Arronax materializes in the distance. The dragon gets understandably skittish at the whale-sized metal barrel floating to it. Fontaine tells her parents to halt the Arronax and she'll lead the dragon the rest of the way. Fontaine coaxes it to follow her into the moon pool. Dad, Mom, and Ant are already waiting. Ant is practically vibrating, bobbing on his toes and peering into the pool and blabbering at Jeffry.

Fontaine opens the Rover hatch. She's grabbed by Mom—thankfully just missing the sore spot on her shoulder—and squeezed tight. "Fontaine! I'm glad you're okay."

"I'm sorry," Fontaine says.

"You should be," Dad says. Fontaine clenches her fists. "But we'll get this dragon taken care of first." He eyes the shape in the moon pool.

Fontaine leans over and waves. "Hey. Come up."

The dragon pokes up its head. Water streams off its majestic snout. Ant gasps and Mom whispers something. Fontaine ignores them for now. "That's it. Come on." She backs up and motions the dragon to follow her out of the pool. It takes its time to swivel its eyes around the Knights and Claw and other weird things. Finally its curiosity seems to overwhelm and it hauls itself out, snuffling and swinging its head.

Fontaine glances at her family. All three have dropped jaws. Ant's eyes are almost popping out. He's speechless. Jeffry looks even more dumbstruck than usual.

"I don't…I don't believe it," Mom says.

"A dragon," Dad says. "A dragon. This is beyond incredible."

(This is all Fontaine wanted. Their awe and joy at seeing such an unbelievable creature that she found.)

Ant squeals. "Awe-some! Oh wow! It's so bright colored! I thought it would be sorta blue or green! Ooh, it does have wings! It's so cool!"

The dragon shakes water from its frills and wings. Then it twists its head to nudge at the dart in its chest.

"Hey. Don't pick that." Fontaine holds out her hand and speed-walks to the dragon. "Don't hurt yourself."

"Careful, Fontaine!" Mom says.

"No, it's okay." Fontaine touches the dragon's cheeks. It nuzzles her. Ant gapes wide enough to span a pinger, expression torn between wonder and jealousy.

"All right. Let's get him to the medical ward," Mom says.

Fontaine worries the dragon might balk and they'll just have to bring supplies to the moon pool room. But apparently the dragon is a very curious creature. It follows Fontaine happily, gawking at everything. It's so big it has to twist though a couple doors though.

Once in the medical ward, Mom gathers supplies and pulls on gloves. She cautiously approaches. The dragon pulls up its head and shifts its wings nervously.

"None of that." Fontaine pats its neck to get its attention. It meets her eyes. "Mom's helping you, okay?" She points to the darts. "It'll hurt a little, but we're all helping you." The dragon moans. It stares at Mom, searching for something. Then it sighs and shoves its head against Fontaine's chest. (It…actually understands something of what they're saying, doesn't it? What an intelligent creature.)

Mom comes up by the dart in its chest. Shortly after, the dragon grunts and twitches. Fontaine soothes it. Then Mom crouches to pull out the second dart. The dragon shoves its head hard against Fontaine and almost tips her, but she grabs hold of its horns and steadies herself, still murmuring things to calm the dragon.

"He did well," Mom says. She slips off the gloves and nods. "All set for now."

Ant, who has been forcibly wordless until the operation was over, spills his usual overflowing chatter. "Wow! He has webbed feet! And his horns are like coral! And his stripes! They're like lionfish. I wonder how much he weighs? He flies, right?"

"Quietly, Ant," Mom says.

"Yeah. You'll give him a headache, or maybe worse," Fontaine says. Ant pouts. Fontaine sneaks a glance at Dad. His brows are still leveled out in wonder.

"Fontaine, how did you find him?" Ant asks, speaking forcefully quiet.

"I...found a report with a location and picture of a dragon. He was on an island in an onshore sea cave," Fontaine says.

"Now, care to say why you did that? With Devil Daniels hunting it? And without telling us?" Uh-oh. Dad's anger is back full-force. Ant sidles sideways as if to avoid any stray crossfire.

"It's not like you to do something so reckless," Mom says. She crosses her arms, mouth in a line of disapproval.

"It's…" The truth is stupid, isn't it? But what else is there to say? "You know, Ant is always—"

"Me? Why?!" Ant yelps. "Fontaine, I returned your skateboard right away! And I didn't steal it. I only borrowed—"

"No, not that at all." Fontaine flaps her hand at him. "Just, you're so smart, and you're the only one who can use the Ephemychron, and you find these amazing rare creatures and Mom and Dad are always—" her vision spatters with tears and her throat tightens, "they're always so amazed by you. And I'm not as good—"

"What?" Ant gasps. "Am I dreaming? Jeffry, are you hearing this?" A pause after he asks his fish. "Okay. So I'm not dreaming. But-but you're always saying how deluded and dumb my plans are, and you're the cold, logical, smart one!"

"You're a genius, not me." Fontaine glares at him through her tears. Ant startles. "You can use the Ephemychron and I can't, you discover all these crazy places and rare creatures and I'm—!"

"Fontaine," Mom interrupts, stunned.

Fontaine drops her eyes to the floor. Her throat squeezes tighter. "I just wanted to find something that would make you and Dad proud of me. I'm sorry I did something so stupid. I'm sorry."

The dragon rumbles questioningly and nudges her arm with its snout. The silence runs on. Then there's movement in her peripheral. Mom steps in front of her. "Fontaine."

"Sorry."

"Fontaine, look at me." Fontaine shakes her head. "Fontaine." Mom notches her request up to that firm Mother Tone.

Fontaine carefully raises her eyes. The dragon snuffles her hair and she reaches a hand for its face.

Mom's eyes are pained. "Honey, we're always proud of you. You don't have to prove anything to us."

Fontaine drops her eyes again. "I—know that, but I'm still…never mind, I'm just being immature."

"I don't think so," Ant pipes up. Fontaine scowls. "What? I'm tryna be nice here with your sudden, uh, confidence issues? Because I'm in the midnight zone right now and I'm reaaaally uncomfortable." Ant recoils dramatically, waiting for a comeback that Fontaine doesn't give. "Come on, Fontaine. Most of those creatures or places I find try to kill me. This? This dragon you found? He's totally awesome and he's not trying to kill me. And. He's. A. Dragon! Seriously, what more awesome animal is there?! Except Jeffry, of course." Jeffry blows bubbles and swishes his tail happily.

"Fontaine," Dad says. Fontaine forces herself to look at him. "As your mom said, you don't have to prove anything to us. But, you're wrong that you're not as good as Ant. You both have your different strengths. You're smart, a good pilot and navigator, and already learning so much about all the ocean."

"And even more than your talents is who you are," Mom says. "You're kind and brave and the best daughter any parent could hope to have. I'm proud of who you are." Fontaine blinks as her eyes prickle with tears again.

"And honestly, finding and befriending a dragon?" Dad says. "I certainly haven't done that."

"I could've," Ant says. Dad and Mom both level glares at him. Ant hurries to amend. "No, no! I mean, not as good as you. Clearly, this guy likes you waaay more than me. And, hate to admit it, but you found him first. The first dragon in the modern day!" Mumbling, Ant adds, "Really hate to admit it. UGH."

"And while your—rescue mission by yourself—" Fontaine winces even though Mom says it factually and not angrily, "was both dangerous and disobedient, it may have saved this magnificent creature from Daniel's clutches. And I understand why you acted how you did."

The tears spill over Fontaine's eyes. "I'm so—"

Mom steps up and wraps her arms around Fontaine. "Hush. It's okay." Fontaine hugs back and buries her face into Mom's shoulder. "Just don't scare us again."

"I won't," Fontaine whispers. "Anyway, that's Ant's job to pull dumb stunts. Who am I to take it from him?"

Ant makes an affronted gasp. Dad chuckles and hugs them both. Ant bounces up and tries to wrap his skinny arms around all three of them while hugging Jeffry in the Jorange. The dragon hums and curls its neck around them.

"We love you so much, Fontaine," Mom says.

"And we're proud of both you and Ant, even when you two do something not-smart," Dad says.

"Jeffry likes you too!" Ant says. Jeffry's approval is about the highest praise he can give someone.

The dragon hums loudly.

Fontaine laughs a raspy laugh and tries to hug them all at once. "I love you guys."