Harper

  I'm an idiot!

  Write it on my forehead! Throw me off the cliff! (No problem, I can fly...)

  Why the heck had I done that? Why did I kiss Lou, LOU!? Vivi, of all people, was just okay with hugs! What had gotten into me? Well, actually, I know what. Vivi is cute. I wanted to kiss him from the beginning. Even though he's not a dragon. Even though everyone told me I was too young for such feelings. Tell that to my feelings and not to me!

  No, my Vivi isn’t a dragon. He’s a human being. Small and fragile, as all humans are. Especially Vivi.

  Now he was asleep. Hidden under all the bnkets and between his pillows. He was shaking in his sleep. I wanted to hug him, warm him, and comfort him, but I didn't dare. I shouldn't have kissed him. Not yet. Not now that his world was upside down. After the kiss, Lou didn't say a word. He just backed away from me, frightened.

  He didn't cry.

  He cried so often. But now he was too frightened. I apologized, but Lou didn't respond. Instead, he just hid under the bnkets until he finally fell asleep underneath.

  My parents scolded me extensively after Lou fell asleep. Ross and Max made fun of me, Connie scolded them just as much, and Sally... Sally sat down next to Lou and watched over his restless sleep.

  Remy

  Lou was acting strangely. He was unusually quiet and barely reacted. He usually screamed when you touched him directly. But when I helped him onto Narcisse's back and had to hold his hand for a moment, he didn't even protest. Harper, too, seemed strange. Had something happened? Did they fight?

  Harper wanted to go with us, I knew that from his brother. Ross. But I couldn't let that happen. He would stand out for sure. True, dragons could get by with little food for quite a while. But not forever. At some point, hunger would overtake him. And then both Lou and I would be in danger. As well as our new neighborhood. And what if a dragon suddenly came to live with me, none of my three dragons, and flew regurly to the hunt? Again, that would get people's attention. My three dragons visited me, but they would never want to live in a house. Even though Renan and Basil were arguing about my dishes at that moment.

  Don't you have any other problems? Instead of deciding which dishes to use for eating? The two wanted to cook. For Lou. Not for me, no. For Lou, because they deemed him too thin. Before the dish fiasco, they had been arguing about what they wanted to cook. Sweet porridge or soup?

  "Soup served on a ft pte? Are you stupid?", I heard Renan scold.

  "There's porridge!", replied Basil.

  "No! Soup! And no ft ptes!"

  "But the ft ptes are nicer. They sparkle more!", grumbled Basil.

  "That's true..." Renan hissed. "But the soup!"

  "Porridge! It's no liquid! We'll take the ft ptes!"

  I tore at my hair. Dragons! If it sparkled, they wanted it. When it sparkled, their brains tended to stop working. Basil and Renan, before arguing over food, had brought Lou's things from the cave. They had left a bnket, a pillow, and the mat in the cave, in consultation with Harper's parents. Just in case we had to hide him there again. To be on the safe side.

  Lou's silence worried me. He didn't talk very much, but he usually reacted and responded. He hardly did either. At most, I got a barely perceptible nod or shake of the head. If I was lucky.

  When I asked Harper's parents about it, they just said their son was a fool. That's all they told me, while Harper's siblings didn't want to part with Lou. Harper seemed equally unhappy, but he kept his distance, and this was very strange. In the meantime, Lou was sitting in his new home. In my living room in the new sitting area. Narcisse had brought him some tea and was sitting next to him. Basil's and Renan's voices could be heard from the kitchen. They bickered like an old married couple. Narcisse rolled his eyes. "Ignore them!", he whispered to Lou. "What would you rather eat? Porridge or soup?" Lou was silent. "I think we've got some figs here somewhere..." Narcisse didn't give up, but Lou didn't even react to figs.

  At least the three dragons agreed on one thing. They wanted to spoil Lou. Even though Renan and Basil tried to hide this behind conspicuous eye rolling and arguments. And I? I stood helpless in my living room. I didn't know how to help Lou.

  He was now officially considered dead. This must have been a nightmare for his parents. We couldn't tell them that Lou was alive. Not yet. Eventually, I would tell them. But not now. The Wise Men pnned to pay them a mourning visit. An impudence. These fools were relieved about Lou's death. Only the possible reaction of the gods still gave them a stomachache. The priests and priestesses had not yet received an answer from the gods. Would our city be punished? Or had we mastered the test?

  As if there were one. A test!

  "Lou?" I turned to the boy. "Would you like to see your new room?"

  Lou stared palely in front of him. He was holding something in his hands, but I couldn't see what.

  "Lou? Shall we take a look at your room? I know from a reliable source that beautiful things are waiting for you there", Narcisse tried too. He wanted to pet Lou's head but then withdrew his hand. "Guess who's the safe source!"

  "You! Who else!", shouted Renan from the kitchen.

  "The porridge is ready, but the soup is burnt. But it wasn't my fault!", cried Basil.

  So they had cooked both? How much did they want Lou to eat?

  "Don't lie! You let soup burn!", said Renan.

  "I didn't. That was you!" replied Basil.

  Heaven.

  "Come on, Lou! We'll take a look at your room!" Narcisse ignored the other two dragons. He stood up, carefully took Lou's hands in his, and pulled him with him. "Come! Remy? Show us the way. I have no idea where his room is. You didn't let me look!"

  "Sure! So you don't drown the room in sparkly stuff!", shouted Renan from the kitchen. "And the food? The soup?"

  "He can't eat that", I heard Basil grumble. "But there's the delicious porridge!"

  "You let my soup burn on purpose!"

  "I didn't touch your soup!"

  "You're the one who kept an eye on the food!"

  "But only on my porridge!" Basil snorted. "Why should I cook your soup?"

  Lou blinked and stared at Narcisse's hands as if he neither heard the argument nor noticed that Narcisse had taken his hands in his.

  I sighed and shook my head. "Let Lou arrive properly first. We'll eat ter. Together." If Lou wanted to eat with us. Otherwise, I'd bring him a bowl of sweet porridge to his room. Not the burnt soup. Of course. I led Lou plus Dragon to Lou's new, small but cozy room. Lou allowed Narcisse to take him by the hand. In the other, he still held the mysterious object.

  "Oh! How pretty!" excimed Narcisse as we entered the room. "Look, Lou! It's all yours!" He sounded like an old granny presenting gifts to her grandchild. He led Lou around the room and praised everything that stood or y there. Lou looked wordlessly at the things Narcisse held close to his eyes.

  "I tried to make it as comfortable as possible", I expined. "There's clothes in your closet. Narcisse has picked out jewelry for you. He was a great help to me. His taste is better than mine."

  "Hm", Lou said softly, the first word since we had left. He let go of Narcisse and stroked the new bedding with his now free hand until his fingers felt the doll. "What?"

  "A doll!", Narcisse announced immediately. "But I didn't choose this. That was Remy. Do you like dolls?"

  Lou sat down on the bed and pulled the doll towards him. He held it in front of his eyes to look at it. He had a bit of a hard time doing this, as he was still holding the object. "I... I think I like dolls", he whispered. "Thank you." His grip on the object loosened slightly as he looked at the doll. At st, I was able to catch a glimpse of the object in his hands.

  It was a diamond.

  More valuable than anything I owned.

  sasi