Isadora who had been basking in the sun in the garden flits up to the message board and hovers reading the messages.
"Still no news!" the tiny dragon exclaims. She flits back out into the garden.
The tiny little lady dragon sits on a daisy which is swinging back and forth in the wind. She licks a little of the pollen off her claws.
She occasionally looks down into the long grass where her brightly jewel coloured dragon pups are playing tag. They have grown they are almost full size though they are still very obviously pups. The runt who hasn't stop eating since the moment he was hatched is the bloated size of a sparrow. Isadora flits down to interceed as he starts chasing one of Bright's frogs who has come for a visit.
"We don't eat frogs!" explains Isadora sharply with both mind speak and words. Only one of her pups can speak as dragons do and as men do but Isadora keeps trying.
The huge runt honks disagreeably and stomps off to wallow in the mud.
"Magic Frog?" Isadora inquires after the brightly colour frog.
Jal'k El blinks, silent as always.
A golden dragon pup with crystalline wings flits off from the game and land on a pansie nearby. "Mother?" it speaks. This is the tiny dragon pup who has learned speech with words. "I know the secret. You need not persist in this fairy tale of yours."
Isadora looks up at her pup curious.
"I already know what stars really are. See? I caught two last night. I ate the other but I saved this one to show you that I am old enough to see through make-believe stories." The golden pup holds a firefly in it's outstretched claws.
Isadora does not respond but she clutches the daisy so feircly tight that one of the petals falls off fluttering down to land on Magic Frog's head. Isadora looks down at Magic frog.
Magic frog shares Isadora's wish. He becomes Bright for a little while. He looks like Bright. He even glows very faintly though he gives off no heat. Bright looks at his hands. Bright walks over to the pond and looks at his reflection.
Jal'k El resumes his more common form of Magic frog and hops into the pond.
Isadora watching wonders if Magic frog is capable of being unhappy then looks back to her gold dragon pup who now seems to be trying to hide under a leaf.
"I'm not mad," speaks Isadora softly. "It is hard to believe in what you do not see. Jal'k El is a magical construct a great wizard made to be a playmate for Bright. He can be anything Bright wants or so I'm told. Bright thinks Jal'k El is a frog and he wants him to be happy. If Jal'k El was made to be what Bright wants, I wonder what happens to him inside when Bright is not here?"
The golden dragon pup looks at the pond woefully. "I am sorry Mother. I meant to be clever not cruel."
"You are clever. You caught two fireflies and noticed at once how similar they are to the stars high in the sky. If you had kept it a few days you would have seen how quickly it's light goes out and then you would have noticed the difference for yourself."
The gold dragon considered this advice sagely then declared sensibly. "I shall eat it. The other firefly was tasty and I expect my larger brother will eat this one before I have a chance to study it, if I try to keep it; so better then that I should eat it now and not be disappointed."