Missing

The sad song immediately changed the atmosphere in the theater. Besides the accompanying woodwind instrument sounds to support the mellow air, only the sorrowful voice from the young lady was heard by the audience, sending them the feeling of lament.

After she descended to the ground, she immediately ran in several directions as if pleading for help from the trees as she was currently alone in the forest. From these trees, other lights came out as small animals, peering slightly at the now crying young lady, with bowed head sitting in the middle of the forest floor.

Her singing continued until suddenly, her mournful shout in time with the loud bang of the drum startled these animals as well as the audience. The lights dimmed then it turned crimson. As the drum beats got heavier and heavier, there was a sense of gloom and urgency.

Then, a loud roar together with a trumpet sound reverberated in the theater. A dragon's head as big as a house showed itself in front of the crying lady. She was still sitting, unable to get up but trying to move herself to get away from the monster.

With tear streaks in her face and a horrified look, she was still looking around the forest, seeking for help. Afterwards, a sharp light came out of a tree, followed by many lights, attacking the dragon.

The fast drum beats was now accompanied by the woodwind instruments depicting the sounds of the forest. As the attack was reaching its climax, the piano accompaniment was approaching its crescendo. The fight continued in this manner until the dragon vanished like smoke.

The lights dimmed with the last piano note. When the stage lit up brightly, all the cast were on stage with their heads bowed to the audience.

Following the audience in giving applause and standing ovation for the performance, Ling was deep in thought from what he had seen, the brows on that little face was scrunching. To avoid being lost in the sea of people, he held hands with his father as they exit the theater.

After getting out of the theater, these three people from the Mal'it Clan were walking back to the dock. The two adults were talking about the effects and illusions used in the performance with the child walking in front of them.

"Are dragons bad?" The soft voice stopped the discussion of the two adults, surprised by the child's question.

Aftet a while of thinking, Bobo also turned to the older man for an answer. This forced Shaman Matnaad to suppress his smile, seeing these two curious people.

He took a deep breath, readying himself with another long monologue, before speaking, "I haven't seen a dragon myself so I can not say this based on my experience. But, based on the stories and gossips I have heard, dragons have always been deemed as a bad omen as indicated by the happenings in the other islands since the earlier times.

"An appearance of a dragon in the sea was often a warning to the sailors that a huge storm is coming. A sighting of a dragon flying fast in the sky was followed by a hurricane that devastated several villages. Even in our village, it was said that during the last eruption of the volcano, someone saw a big animal flying on top of it.

"However, nobody has ever proven any of these superstitions since dragons were rare. Some were even unsure if what they saw was really a dragon. That is why they were often shown as bad in stories."

Ling nodded and the three became silent again while walking. The two adults could see that the child was thinking deeply, his body slouched in front of them.

However, before any of them could break the silence, a series of footsteps were heard behind them and a man called for the two before he even reached the group.

"Shaman, Chief," the man took a breath before continuing, "there was a fight in one of our stalls. The other side's chief already intervened but they also want to talk to our leaders."

Since they were already near the clan's boats, the shaman and chief decided they could leave the child alone to go back so they could finish this issue faster.

Ling was then left walking alone, distracted until he reached the docks. He stared up for a few minutes, still deep in thought, before moving to find the clans' boats.

Even though all the boats looked the same, he managed to go to the boat with the familiar 'mist' surrounding it. He fell asleep in a room with the soothing presence, dreaming about princesses and dragons.

___

Back in the Mal'it Clan, inside a cave in the forest a little farther away from the village, a dragon was on its stomach, looking at the cave entrace sullenly. It had been almost a month since it had played with its friend and it was missing the delicious meat from the house of that boy.

The sound of running footsteps outside made it raise its head, waiting until a child entered the cave carrying the usual bundle. When the child looked at the dragon, it suddenly turned on its back with its legs up, still staring at the child as if waiting for something.

Used to this behavior, kind of like its other friend, the child put down the food bundle and moved to rub the belly of the dragon. It crooned with its eyes now closed.

"Maga, we still have to go further inside the cave so you have to start eating now. I don't know how you and Ling managed to walk that long before but we will return later if we don't start walking now. I was late at school that last time," Rin complained to the relaxed dragon which seemed to be ignoring Rin.

After a few more seconds of scratching, the dragon got up and started to eat. From time to time, it kept looking at the child eating beside it.

Rin sighed, "You know I have no idea when Ling will return. Why not we continue on this adventure inside the cave and then, you also have a lot to tell Ling when he got back. I'm sure he will have a lot to tell us too."

Hearing this, the dragon became lively. Its mind was now occupied with stories and the next adventure it could show to that boy.

"Hmm.. You already showed me that you do not get burned under the lava but I can not even get a meter near it. The whole place was warm but too hot for me once we were near the pool.

"Should we try how long you can last under the falls this time?"