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Land

Land was in sight

It was far, probably another day’s worth of sailing, but at least it was near

And it wasn’t as cold as it’d been either The air had been frostbite on the lungs Now, it was cool and pleasant, like the nightti I et a better look, even though it wouldn’t make a difference

Almost there

Now that the end was near, I remembered e’d come here

To heal a dragon

Actually, dragons

So I’d never done before How could I have done it before when I didn’t even believe dragons were real? Dragons were et children to behave They served kings in legends, torched kingdole bite

But they were real

Footsteps sounded behindhands moved to my arms, and a hard stomach pressed into my back “There it is”

“What is it?”

“An island”

“But what’s it called?”

“The true name? I don’t know But I call it Quartz”

“Why?”

“There’s a lot of it there In the rocks In the sand”

“Isn’t that valuable?”

“I’ to buy you? Money doesn’t mean much at the bottoht or an extra chicken for dinner, but that’s it”

Thinking about all the sex he used to pay for had never bothered ot under my skin a little bit I didn’t voice that because the last thing I wanted him to think was that I cared Or worse…that I was jealous

“What is it?”

“What?”

“You got quiet”