Fragment 63

Amaru examined the replacement phone he'd been given. The ability to adapt was indubitably one of the few things that all of the longest lived species shared, and he had underestimated the strength of the mankind's ability. But even he was amazed when he considered that he hadn't even dreamed of such a device before, and yet had become so accustomed to its use in less than a year.

The technician had assured him that all of his data had been restored, but that apparently didn't include the location of the icons. It had been some time since Chris and Anne had set up his first devices, and even though he could recall it with a clarity that a human would envy, at the time he hadn't really understood what they were doing, so he hadn't necessarily remembered the significant things. Compared to trailing an animal back to its den, locating everything he wanted to access took no time at all.

"Add me," Amaru instructed the younger dragon.

"Add you?" the other asked blankly.

"To the list of contacts in your device," he explained.

"I don't have one."

A brief silence filled the garden. The sound of a bird singing was loud. A human throat was cleared, and Amaru looked over.

The human who had arranged the repair of his phone spoke diffidently, "The imperial treasury is empty because, well, it had been abolished."

"Then I shall receive a bill for this?" Amaru asked after a moment, as he held up his phone. Chris, Anne, and the elderly one, Mac, had spent a great deal of time trying to explain the concepts of human finances.

"It was paid for with discretionary funds, you will not be billed," the elderly human assured him quickly.

"Acquire another one," Amaru instructed.

--

"You weren't lying!" Tanwen said with amazement as Anne caught up to her. "It really is maintaining a different temperature."

Old Jose looked like he wanted to snap at the dragon, but he merely responded politely, "No miss."

Gasps came from the small family huddled behind him as Tanwen opened her true eyes to examine the scale in her hands. She stared at it with fascination and Anne blinked as she realized that the scale was making its own ripples in Tanwen's hands. If the female dragon had shown as brightly to Anne's other sight as Amaru did, she wouldn't have been able to tell, but the dragon's own ripples were only a bit brighter than the ones Chris made.

"How sly! I wonder if this pattern runs through all of his scales… I bet it does." Tanwen muttered before looking up. "Getting information from an elder is a lot like trying to find it on the internet. You have to know what to ask about."

Anne blinked. "But this is something that's kind of visible even to me?"

Tanwen appeared to be slightly chagrined as she nodded. "Sometimes it's hardest to see what you're most familiar with."

"That's true for everyone," Old Jose said kindly.

"Is it still alive?" Anne asked hesitantly.

Tanwen gave her a funny look, and glanced at the scale. "Oh, no, not really. But I can see why you'd think it might be with the energy locked inside like this."

"What kind of energy?" Jose asked nervously with a glance toward the distressed family.

Anne felt guilty when she looked at them. She'd been where they were now, and she'd been rescued. She still didn't have much in the way of personal resources, but she felt bad because she hadn't really done anything for the people who were still trapped in the streets.

Tanwen looked perplexed. "Just energy. The same kind that's in you and me and everything else. But it's almost empty now," she announced with more assurance.

"I'm sorry," the mother said anxiously.

Old Jose waved a hand dismissively at the young mother. "Not your fault," he said quickly with his eyes still on Tanwen.

"Of course it's not my fault," Tanwen huffed with disdain.

"Can we refill it?" Anne asked suddenly.

Old Jose had said that Amaru's gift had been very useful to him, and he'd obviously lent it to the little family. Tanwen turned and raised an eyebrow at her, and she flushed.

"I doubt that you could," Tanwen replied rather bitingly. "But sure, give it a try." She pushed the scale toward Anne and smiled.

Anne stared blankly at the scale that felt lighter than the shell it resembled would have. Amaru and Chris had taught her what she was seeing when the world was overlaid with ripples of light reflecting from invisible streams. And Amaru had taught her that she could absorb the light when it was pooled thickly enough around her, but she had no idea how to fill the scale.

On the other hand, Chris had lived by drinking from the hearts of living creatures like the vampire that he'd assumed himself to be, and she had a perfectly good heart within her, so it shouldn't be that she lacked the energy to do it.

She didn't dare meet anyone's gaze as she lifted the scale and hugged it to her chest. She was certain that she looked ridiculous, and she could see the ripples better with her eyes closed anyway. The ripples that her own heart emitted were miniscule compared to what radiated from the skin of any of the dragons. The scale itself seemed to be nearly as bright.

She wasn't sure what she was even trying to do, but she focused on the way the waves met. She tried to calm her heart until the ripples blended instead of bouncing, but even though she'd decided that she should try to master herself and reach the state of enlightenment that only legends had achieved, she hadn't really accomplished much in the last few months.

"What are you doing?" Tanwen asked with interest.

Anne bit her lip, opened her eyes, and thrust the scale back toward the dragon. "Can you refill it then?" she demanded challengingly.

To her surprise, the dragon replied thoughtfully, "Maybe? You were trying to synchronize your energy with it weren't you?"