A Princess's Guide to Dragon Domestication

(3) Tourists, Dictators and Ducks

The next day, I woke up to a silent house. Ricky was usually the sole source of disturbance, and he was already halfway through his journey by then.

Stupid camping.

I was about to leave the house when my mother caught sight of me.

"Honey." She frowned, "Were you planning on leaving without eating breakfast?"

"I totally have an apple in my bag," I replied with an innocent face. The fact that I didn't have a bag didn't escape her notice. She just shook her head before kissing me goodbye.

"Hey!" I heard a voice call out as soon as I was outside. Zane was standing on the other side of the fence with a smile on his face.

"Hey," I replied with no expression at all.

"I was wondering if you could direct me towards the closest park."

"The park?" I asked him skeptically. "You mean where serial killers throw the bodies of helpless kids after chopping them into little pieces?"

For a moment, he thought I was serious, but it didn't take him long to recover. He scratched the back of his neck. "It's a lot greener where I'm from. It would be nice to find a bit of... home in this strange land, free of body parts, that is."

That made me smile. "Sure. Go straight. Then turn—" I paused, trying to picture the road in my head. God, I was horrible at directions. "Screw it. I can walk you there?"

"That would be great; thank you!" His smile grew bigger, and he was right next to me as soon as I got to the pavement. "You never told me your name," he said after a while.

"I know," I said without turning towards him.

"Well?"

"Maisha," I said, already distracted by the postman who was about to walk by us. I loved the guy! He always brought me gifts from Amazon. Granted, I ordered them AND paid for them, but still. It was like the guy was my very own Santa, bringing me whatever I wanted, without a Christmas restriction.

"That's a pretty name. What does it mean?"

I tilted my head slightly towards him. "How would I know? It's not like I named myself." And it wasn't like I knew the people who named me either. For some reason, my brain went to the dream I had last night.

My brain needed a shot of espresso and a strong dose of reality.

He looked taken aback for a split second but composed himself fairly quickly. "Fair enough," he said after a while. "So... any places one must visit while one's here?"

"Nothing touristy or even remotely interesting."

"We're not tourists."

"Are you staying then? Permanently?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"No." He shook his head. "But we might have to stay for a little longer than planned."

"So," I said after a while, part trying to make conversation and part curious. "I've always wondered what the deal with your house was, with different people always coming and going."

Ricky and I had a hobby. We would make stories about the people who stayed in the house next door. We had never actually interacted with them till now, so it added to the whole mystery of it all. Especially when, in a small town like ours, everyone knew of everyone AND their great grandparents' long-dead pets.

"It's Raees's father's house, for his employees," Zane explained. "He's setting up base here, I believe. We're just... passing through." He shrugged.