Taming the Beast

“Wait, that’s his actual name?”

“That’s what I have always called him.”

Panzan escorted her down a long, curvy hallway until they reached a row of elevators powered by the floating globes. Madeleine was amazed.

“How does all this work?”

“Don’t know. It just does. You’re going to the top floor. Nice room.”

She panicked a little as the elevator doors shut behind them. The car moved faster than she was accustomed to, sending her hands scrambling for anything to grab onto for security.

“It’s okay. No need to worry,” he said. “You’ll get used to it.”

The doors opened to another curved corridor of stone with more floating globe lights. Her room was at the end behind a curved, wooden door. It was surprisingly lovely and feminine as if they’d studied the rooms back at the colony. The bed was made of some type of iron with a soft comforter made of shimmery fabric. A long mirror stood in the corner and a tub carved out of stone rose up from the floor beneath a series of small windows. Bottles of green soaps and gels lined the rim of the tub.

“What’s in those bottles?” she asked as she reached for them.

“To scrub,” Panzan said, moving his arms as if he were showering. “It’s made from the moss. You can eat it too.”

“Really?”

“Here, try it.” He took the bottle from her hand and squeezed a tiny bit onto her fingertip.

“Does it taste like chicken?” She chuckled at her own joke.

Panzan furrowed his brow and said, “No, it tastes like moss.”

She slowly lowered her tongue to her fingertip and expected her gag reflex to kick in. “It doesn’t taste like anything. Maybe a little like grass. I miss our old grass,” she said with a sigh.

“Beast Lightning lives there,” he said, pointing to another wooden door on the right side of her room.

“Right there? Why so close?”

“Because that’s his room,” he said with a shrug. He motioned towards a large globe light above the wooden door. “When this goes bright, it means you go through that door and service Beast Lightning.”

“Service him?”

“Serve him food, serve him water, sweep … whatever he needs. Tonight you are supposed to apply sunscreen.”

“Dragons wear sunscreen?”

“Everybody needs sunscreen.”

Madeleine looked around for a bottle of the type of sunscreen she was used to. “Where is it?”

“We use the moss gel for that too. He has his own.”

“Figures,” she said with a chuckle.

“You know, rub like this,” he said, mimicking a shower once more. “But you may have to use the big stick.”

“He won’t be in human form?”

“No scales in human form. You need to protect the scales.”

“I see,” she said, nodding her head. “Where will you be?”

“Alllll the way at the end of the hall. But you won't need me. This part is easy. That goes bright and you go in and rub.”