The day started off as normally as any, but then a gnat flew in from the window. It tormented her at length until suddenly she found she was hoarse from shouting at the enormous THING over her. Somehow the meddlesome memory gnat of hurt had contorted to a gruesome dragon of despair. Its ferocious fire tore at her - trying to strip her down to nothing. She gasped and choked as it poured down her lungs. There was a roaring in her ears and a faint tapping. No wait. Knocking. Was someone at the door? No matter, she couldn’t answer it with a dragon sitting on her. Were her limbs still attached? She sent a cautious thought toward her pinkie. It curled in response. With her last fiber of strength she hurled the dragon away and flung open the door. Her brother stood at the door looking very knightly and very annoyed.
“You know I can’t help you unless you open the
barking door!” he howled through the roaring in her ears as he plunged his
sword through the dragon’s heart and it shrunk back into a gnat. “And you also
know that this is not just a physical door I’m talking about.” he added more
gently, tossing the sword away and tucking her into a hug. He pressed his
forehead against her and she looked up into his eyes and saw all the love of
the world in them. “Goose” he said at last, “You have to learn to ask for help
or we’re never going to make it. I can plunge swords into dragons all day. But you
have to be able to as well.” He handed her the sword. She shuddered slightly. “I
know it’s unwieldy. And I know you want all dragons to be princesses. But the
truth is sometimes dragons are dragons. They want only to devour you and they
will use every deception to do so.
Damn them!” He broke off viciously; and she
started, not at the language, but at the blatancy since he had already done
exactly that. Her eyes must have asked the question. “Damned, but free to roam”
he growled. Then he shrugged. “I trust Father, and anyway the important thing is
getting you trained. You cannot let yourself be overcome.” He shook her gently
for emphasis. “And more importantly you do not EVER need to heave off any
dragons to get to me. All you need to do is ask and I will be there. Do you
understand?”
She looked at him wearily. “I thought I could…” and
trailed off.
“Not without truth” She raised the sword at him. He
nodded. “If you take to unraveling a lie without it, you will only become more
entangled. But if you call upon the truth, you may not even need me” She made a
face.
“You are the truth”
He smirked. “Precisely. You’ll have asked me for
help without even trying”
“You’re impossible”
“Indubitably” he said slyly.
“Do you always have to have the last word?”
“Well, I was the first W…”
“Don’t even!” She cut him off and started to stomp
away. “Impossible!”
“Everyone needs the impossible” he said quietly. And
though she huffed, she had to admit he was right.
“Fine! You win. You win every time. You cheated
death. You stomped on the father of all dragons. I concede!” But her fierce grin
belayed the crabbiness of the words.
For life might be full of dragons. But it was not
without hope, truth, or a Savior of a brother who defied impossibility. 