08 – Above the Clouds

 

«You look rather exhausted,» his mother remarked.
«Oh, nonsense, I’m fine,» replied Feilong.

«I’m terribly proud of you. You did really well. You behaved very grown-up.»

Feilong looked confused. «I knocked the sheep over, and you call that grown-up?»
«That’s not what I mean. I mean how you behaved afterwards.»
«But that’s what it says in the book of manners for dragons,» Feilong explained.

His mother grinned. «Come here, let me give you some energy – otherwise you won’t manage the rest of the journey.»

Feilong lay down on the meadow beside his mother and closed his eyes. She channelled her energy into him.

«Mama,» Feilong began.
«Yes?» she turned towards him.
«What’s that long hill the sheep are standing on?»
«That’s a dike. Fly up a little and look beyond it. Tell me what you can see on the other side.»

Feilong rose into the air. «Wow! There’s so much water! I can’t see anything beyond it – only water and clouds.»
«That’s the ocean. The dike protects the land here. It keeps the water from flowing onto the meadows and the land behind them.»
«Are we going to fly over it soon?» Feilong asked.
«Not soon – now. Are you ready?» his mother asked.
Feilong soared upward. «I was born ready!»

Feilong’s mother decided that they would fly through the clouds stretching across the ocean. But Feilong didn’t find it pleasant at all. His damp scales made him stumble again and again.

«All right, my son, we’ll climb higher and fly above the clouds,» his mother decided.

Feilong didn’t need to be told twice. He shot straight upwards, above the blanket of clouds. Up here, his scales soon dried again.

«Is it more comfortable for you to fly up here above the clouds?» his mother asked.
«Yes, it is, Mama. Why do you ask?»

His mother thought for a moment about how to answer. But before she could, Feilong had already discovered something new.

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