Part 13 (2/2)
”You are back!” Dragon shouted. ”Did you see him? Did you ask the Old Man of the Moon my question?”
”Yes, yes,” Minli laughed as she hugged the dragon, ”I asked him. And he answered. So now I know! I know how you can fly!”
”How?” Dragon asked.
Minli climbed onto Dragon's back. With both hands, she clenched the stone ball above his head.
”Take a deep breath,” she said to him; and with a jerk that took all her strength, she yanked the ball off his head.
”Ouch!” Dragon yelped. But then, he began to smile. ”I feel so light,” he said, ”so light and peaceful.”
”The Old Man of the Moon said you would not be able to fly until the ball was removed from your head,” Minli told him. ”He said it was weighing you down.”
”It was!” Dragon laughed and Minli clutched his neck with her spare arm as he rose into the air. The wind seemed to join their whoop of laughter and sweep them up into the sky as the dragon flew for the first time. The silver clouds embraced them and then parted as the dragon flew through, as if he were rippling the sky; the pale moon looked as if it was smiling at them with a soft glow. As they skimmed the stars, Minli closed her eyes with delight.
As they returned to the ground, the dragon asked, ”What about you? Did the Old Man tell you how to change your fortune?”
Minli was silent. Dragon turned to look at her.
”What happened?” he asked. ”He did not tell you?”
”I didn't ask,” Minli said. ”I was only allowed one question.”
”What?” the dragon said. ”You need to know! You have come all this way. We will fly back and you can ask him!”
Before Minli could utter a protest, the red cord bridge seemed to shriek, and as they turned to look at it, the bamboo stakes began to rip the ground, leaving ugly slashes as the bridge was dragged away from the land. The bridge jerked violently, the bamboo supports clattering as it was pulled up into the darkness.
”The Old Man of the Moon will not see me again,” Minli said. ”He won't answer any question for another ninety-nine years.”
”But, you...” the dragon sputtered, ”your fortune, your parents...”
”It's all right,” Minli told him. ”When it was time for me to choose, I suddenly saw I didn't have to ask it.”
”You did not?” the dragon said.
”No,” Minli said and suddenly memories rushed through her. She heard the buffalo boy's laughter as he refused her money, saw the king's generous smile as he willingly parted with his family's treasure, and remembered Da-A-Fu's last words to her. ”Why would we want to change our fortune?” they had said. She had shaken her head in confusion then, but now, finally, Minli understood all of it. Fortune was not a house full of gold and jade, but something much more. Something she already had and did not need to change. ”I didn't ask the question,” Minli said again and smiled, ”because I don't need to know the answer.”
CHAPTER 46.
The moon began to fade as the brightening sky revealed itself through it. The sun was awakening, and Minli wanted to return home as soon as possible. Dragon, having waited three days and nights, was well rested, so they decided to leave Never-Ending Mountain at once.
As Dragon soared through the sky, any heaviness inside Minli left. He seemed to dance in the air, and his happiness made her as feel as light as the clouds around her. The sun seemed to warm her heart and joy bubbled inside of her. She knew she had asked the right question.
Before they left, Minli and the dragon circled over the Village of Moon Rain. Da-A-Fu, Amah, A-Gong, and the villagers saw them and ran out of their stone hut flapping their ruined sleeves in greeting. ”Don't stop,” Amah shouted with a broad smile, ”go home!” Minli nodded and waved good-bye until the flowering trees looked like brush strokes of golden paint on the mountain.
Flying on the dragon made traveling much faster. It seemed as if in no time they were above the City of Bright Moonlight - from the sky, the Inner City and Outer City grids looked like a giant labyrinth, and the two stone guardians looked as if they were dog trinkets molded from clay. Minli saw the roof of the buffalo boy's broken-down hut, but no glimpse of him. He's probably inside, sleeping, He's probably inside, sleeping, Minli thought, wondering if the G.o.ddess of Weaving had visited the previous night. Minli thought, wondering if the G.o.ddess of Weaving had visited the previous night.
But as they pa.s.sed the bay of water by the city, Minli saw something strange, like an orange shadow streaking across the sky. Dragon saw it too and slowed down. As it got closer, there was no mistaking it. It was another dragon!
The dragon was orange, the color of the inside of a ripe mango. When she saw Minli and Dragon, a coquettish smile spread across her face.
”h.e.l.lo,” Dragon breathed in an odd voice. Minli looked at him in surprise.
But the orange dragon kept flying without saying a word. As she pa.s.sed, she winked at them. Dragon balanced in mid-air as if stunned. He watched the orange dragon sweep down and away to the water below until she was a ginger speck in the distance.
”Are you okay?” Minli asked the dragon as he continued to stare. ”You must be excited that you've finally seen another dragon.”
”I am,” Dragon said, as if in a daze. Then he shook himself as if trying to rouse himself awake. ”But I will find her again later. I will bring you home first.”
Minli shrugged. Dragon was acting oddly. But there was something familiar about that orange dragon, perhaps the way her scales reflected in the sun were like fish scales glistening in the water and those knowledgeable eyes, nodding as if she knew her. Minli smiled.
Hours pa.s.sed and the land below them blurred. Minli slept on and off; the smooth ride of the flying dragon made it easy for her to sleep. Minli was impressed by how far they had journeyed and how much faster they were able to travel by flying. The sun was only beginning to go down past the horizon when they saw the edge of the peach forest. The tops of the peach trees seemed to sway a welcome to them as they flew overhead and as they continued to fly, Minli thought she saw the monkeys still attached by the fishnet around the pot of rice.
But Dragon was still acting strangely. When Fruitless Mountain, with its familiar black peak cutting into the pink and orange sunset sky, came into view, the dragon almost stopped flying.
”What mountain is that?” he asked Minli.
”It's Fruitless Mountain,” Minli told him. ”Right beyond it, next to the Jade River, is my home.”
”Fruitless Mountain,” he said to himself, and even though he continued to fly, he seemed to be in a daze. Minli wondered if flying had somehow made him lightheaded. But her attention could not be kept by her concern for him. Night was falling and the dark lines of Fruitless Mountain softened in the shadowy sky. But Minli could still see that every moment brought the Jade River and Fruitless Mountain closer. She was almost home!
However, when they reached Fruitless Mountain, Dragon suddenly stopped. He dropped lightly to the base of Fruitless Mountain, where so long ago Minli had taken some stone to make her compa.s.s.
”This is Fruitless Mountain,” Dragon said, and again Minli looked at him. He was definitely acting out of the ordinary.
”Yes,” Minli said, a bit puzzled. ”My village is just a bit past this. I can walk from here if you wish.”
”Do you mind?” Dragon asked. ”For some reason, I feel as if I do not want to leave here.”
”No, I don't mind,” Minli said. ”Are you okay?”
The dragon looked at her and smiled. ”Yes,” Dragon said. ”Strangely, I feel like I am home.”
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