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By the next morning the storm had passed. Airibells went out to fish while the men went out to find firewood. She came back with four big fish for them to eat. Her own belly full, she climbed to the highest peak to bask in the sun. When she awoke the sun was setting. She chewed enough white stone so she could easily fly down to the beach where she'd left the men. She called to the boy. He came running out of the cave to greet her. Angry yells followed him out of the cave. Airibells could feel fear and angry, superstitious animosity from at least three of the men.
*I apologize for leaving for so long today. Do you need more fish tonight. I don't want my new friends to go to bed hungry.*
"We are fine. We ate the last of the fish tonight, and had a little bit left over. Those were big fish that you caught us. We will need some more for breakfast though. There is not much else to eat on this island except seagulls. Some hemp grows here, but that's not edible, although, we can at least make rope, fishing lines and clothes from the fibers. I saw some lichen on the rocks. It might be edible or it might not, I'm not sure which kind it is."
*The seagulls do not eat it, so probably not.*
"Oh, it would have to be boiled first, and they couldn't do that, heeheehee. But speaking of boiling, we can not do that either, we have no cooking pots. Nor do we have any fresh water. We will die from thirst in just a day or two more if we don't get fresh water to drink. We found a few puddles today from the rain, but those will be gone in just a day or two."
*Hop on. I will fly you to my hatching cave on the other side of the island. There was a hot springs in there that may be fresh water.* Airibells lifted the boy to her neck where he hung on tightly. But when she launched herself airborne he slipped and nearly fell off. Luckily she caught him with the back of her hand, holding him in place while she settled back on the sand.
*This will never do. To fly with me we will both need safety harnesses. Right now, I will hold you around the body in my hand. Turn your back to me so you cans see where we are going.* Airibells grasp him around the middle and leaped upward into the dim evening light.
*By the way, do you have a name? My name is Airibells. The dolphins gave it to me.*
"Yes, my name is Shawn. I like your name, it fits you."
*Thank you, so does yours.*
By the time they arrived at her hatching cave it was near dark.
"We need some light. I always heard that dragons were supposed to breathe fire. Your breath smells like sulfur, so I'm wondering if you can too."
*I don't know. I've never tried to breathe fire. Stand back and let me try.* She huffed and puffed to no avail. It wasn't until she got flustered and hissed that her tongue scraped across the roof of her mouth creating a spark that ignited the fumes of her breath. Quickly, she breathed on a bush, setting it ablaze, then snatched it from the ground and held over her head as they entered the cave.
The burning bush illuminated the whole cave. There were egg shells everywhere. The spring bubbled up from the back. Shawn scooped up a crown piece of egg shell, rinsed it in the stream, then drank from it. He spit the water out. "Plllaatt-t-t-t! It's worse than sea water, much stronger."
*The volcano must suck the sea water in through vents and spew it out here. So, you can only drink rain water? Why don't you do like the sun does and evaporate it?*
"I don't understand what you mean, evaporate?"
*The sun warms the water. The warmer the water the more water vapors jump up into the air. Then when it gets up to where the air is thin and cold, then it turns to clouds. When the clouds get enough water drops in them, they fall in rain.*
"How do you know this?"
*I can see it happening, can't you? Don't you see the air currents?*
"No, but your eyes are so different than mine, it's no wonder."
*I'm sure that this will work if we can just figure out how to catch the evaporated sea water.*
Shawn grinned. "I know!" He ran around gathering up egg shells. The smaller ones he placed in the sand in a circle with one in the center. Then he placed a large one over the others. "See? The water to heat goes in the center shell. It evaporates, as you say, then runs down the outside of the big shell to drip into the outside ring of shells."
*A fine idea! Gather up as many shells as you can carry all stacked together, and I will too. We must hurry. The smoke from this burning bush is getting thick in here and it is bad smoke!*
"Yes. My father says that hemp is bad to burn because the smoke makes you have bad dreams, even when you are awake. It will even make you crazy for a while. That's what happened today when we cooked our fish. We breathed the smoke and saw crazy things."
*This is as many egg shells as I can carry in one hand. Let's go.*
At the mouth of the cave Airibells tossed the burning brand into the stream to put it out. Then she picked up Shawn in one hand and the egg shells in the other. With a great leap of her hind legs she was airborne. Her night vision was as good as her day vision. At night she just saw things in a different light. She could detect the ultraviolet and infrared light waves at night.
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