By: Jovia Zhang

I practically ran towards Dragon, my new companion, my only way home. But as I reached the dragon, I came to a screeching halt. There he was, still sniffing, half submerged in a pool of tears. His red coat made his emerald-green whiskers and horns pop, even with ropes of twine that seemed to choke him. I stared in shock and awe – even half covered with ropes and water he was far larger than I could ever have imagined. My eyes must have gone huge, because through tears the dragon sniffled, “Could you help me?” I immediately began to make my way towards the creature, falling face first into his pool of tears. “The water’s deeper than I thought,” I muttered. At that, the dragon started bawling. I swam to my future friend and started hacking away at random ropes with my small knife. I felt a little silly, saving a grand creature such as Dragon. But I had also held a conversation with a goldfish and had probably given my “parents” heart attacks. I sighed. Might as well talk to Dragon while I still can. “So,” I said, trying to sound casual. “How did you find yourself in such a situation?” Dragon looked down at me – even tangled up in ropes and drowning in his own tears, he still towered over me – studying me, before speaking. “The monkeys tied me up while I was sleeping.” I nodded, like I completely understood and sympathized with him. “I wandered too far into their peach grove. They’re greedy and won’t let anyone pass. I told them if they didn’t let me pass, I would just force my way through. So, a few days ago, while I was sleeping, they tied me up so I couldn’t pass through, even if I wanted to.” I nodded before slipping underwater to cut the rest of the knots. I wanted to keep quiet, as I felt shy, small and weak in the presence of Dragon.

As I finished cutting all of the twine, I worked up the courage and managed to squeak out a “hello” before formally introducing myself. “I’m, err, Minli. Yes, Minli. What’s your name?” “Name?” Dragon asked. Wasn’t his name “Dragon” in the book? “Yes, your name.” “I don’t think I have a name. Let me think … back when I was born—” “I’ll just call you Dragon. I have a bad memory, so if you tell me your actual name, I’ll probably forget it, anyway.” I hurriedly cut him off, not wanting to hear another story. “Yes,” Dragon nodded in agreement. I sighed, a nagging feeling in my brain telling me to invite Dragon on my journey. “Oh, wait, Dragon! Why don’t you just fly over the forest?” Dragon looked sad again, like a rainy cloud had just covered him in misery. “I can’t fly. I don’t know why. Every other dragon can fly, so I don’t understand why I cannot.” “Oh, well, I happen to know how you could fly. It’s that yellow ball on your neck—it’s holding you down.” I pointed to a yellow orb that I had failed to notice prior to my exclamation. “Here, I’ll take it off so you can—” “No, thank you.” Dragon backed away slowly. “How do I know if I can trust you?” Stupid Dragon, I thought. Well, smart Dragon for not trusting me. But, stupid Dragon! You’re wasting my time! “You can trust me. I only got this information from the Old Man of the Moon. He told me. See, I was wise enough to be able to find him. Now, if you would please keep still while I try to remove the ball from your neck, that would be very helpful,” I said through gritted teeth. Dragon continued backing up. I stopped where I was. “Look, I want to help you. Do you want help or not?” Dragon looked uneasy before answering. “No, I would like the Old Man of the Moon to tell me. Only then will I let you take it off.” I sighed, realizing I was going to stay here much longer than I had planned. “OK, I was going to pay him a visit, as well. C’mon, follow me.”

I retraced my steps, leading Dragon back to the village. My new plan was to lead Dragon to the village, make our village more alive again, then hopefully be whisked back home. Except the only problem was that I didn’t know my way back. I misled us multiple times, avoiding disaster only because Dragon sensed it. After hours of walking, I was becoming hopeless. Finally, Dragon got tired of my leadership skills, as well. “Do you know what you’re doing? We’ve been going in circles. Look, that’s where you saved me earlier.” I looked up and realized we were back at the entrance to the monkey’s peach grove. During our walk, I had gotten more comfortable talking with Dragon and gave a him mindless wave. “Don’t worry, the compass was just going weird. Oh, it says we need to go through the peach grove. You can lead the way and I’ll hang under you and hopefully the monkeys won’t notice.” “Oh, no, they’ll definitely notice you. Do you have any other ideas?” I thought for a moment. “Actually, I might have one.”