Dragons of the Watch - Donita K. Paul [95]
He made a clicking noise with his tongue and winked. “That’s my girl.”
They entered the apothecary from the back. Cinder and Soo-tie sat on the floor playing a game.
“Where’s Porky?” asked Bealomondore.
Soo-tie looked up. “He didn’t want to come.”
Ellie exchanged a puzzled look with Bealomondore. The bond between them pronounced the oddity of the boy’s telling them to hurry and then not being there.
Laddin flew in the open door and landed on Bealomondore’s shoulder.
Both children squealed.
“It’s one of the ugly birds.”
Ellie felt Laddin’s immediate indignation and hurried to smooth over the offense.
“Indeed, Laddin would be a very ugly bird, but he is a dragon, a very handsome dragon.”
The children stood and slowly came closer. Both looked ready to flee should the dragon attack.
“He’s green,” said Soo-tie.
Cinder snorted. “Of course he’s green. Can’t you say something smarter than that?”
Soo-tie didn’t respond to the barb. “Do his claws hurt your shoulder?”
Bealomondore moved Laddin down into his arms. “No, he doesn’t want to hurt me. He’s a healing dragon, very important and very friendly. He’s agreed to heal your cuts and bruises from yesterday.”
Cinder put his hand over the bandage, now crusted with dirt. “Are you going to take the cover off? Won’t the blood run all over again?”
Ellie stepped forward. “Yes, we will take the binding off, but the wound should be scabbed over, so no blood. And when we are finished, I have daggarts to give you.”
Cinder’s eyes brightened. “Shouldn’t we have the daggarts first, in case we get all golly-wobbled and can’t eat after?”
Soo-tie nodded. “Sometimes looking at blood and sores and oozy stuff makes my stomach wanna hurl. We should eat the daggarts first so we don’t miss out.”
“If you have sensitive stomachs,” Ellie said as she maneuvered Soo-tie to take a seat on a bench, “then you should definitely not eat the daggarts first.”
“Right,” said Cinder. “ ’Cause then you’d hurl the daggarts. You want me to go first, Miss? I can show Soo-tie how to be brave.”
Soo-tie gave Cinder a mulish face. “And then you’d eat the daggarts while it was my turn. I’ll go first. I can go first, can’t I, Ellicinderpart?”
Soo-tie’s pleading face turned to disgust as she looked into Ellie’s eyes. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and wagged her head back and forth. When she again looked at Ellie, she displayed a play-acting air of extreme patience.
“You’ve been crying again,” said Soo-tie. “I told you you’d better not cry. Crying gets you in big trouble.”
Sitting beside the dirty child, Ellie managed not to wrinkle her nose against the soured smell of her clothes. She hugged the child, bringing her close in a hearty embrace. “Where I come from, children are allowed to cry.”
Soo-tie didn’t resist the hug but leaned toward Ellie. “But you’re a grownup.”
“Grownups are allowed to cry as well.”
“Do you cry a lot?”
“No, I live a very happy life. There isn’t much to cry about.”
“Then why are you crying here? Is this an unhappy life?”
“I missed an important celebration.”
Soo-tie moved away and looked at Ellie with big eyes. “Birth day?” She said it like it was two words. “Our birth day should come pretty soon.” She looked at Cinder for confirmation. “In a week or two. Right, Cinder?”
Cinder rolled his eyes. “We just had the birth day.”
He also said it as two words. Ellie raised an eyebrow at Bealomondore. He shrugged. In the time that Ellie and Bealomondore exchanged their bewilderment, the children had come together to better yell in each other’s faces.
“We didn’t just have a birth day,” said Soo-tie. “You don’t know nothing.”
“I know more than a sissy girl, and you cry at night when no one is listening.”
Soo-tie pulled back her arm, made a fist, and hit Cinder in the face. The blow knocked him over backward. “You’re dumb,” she yelled. “That birth day was months and months and months ago.