Sasha grinned at his eagerness. “Are you ready to start your day, or do you want to sleep more?”
“Not tired,” Noel said.
“Pull back the curtains,”her dragon said.“We need to see the day, so we can decide what to do.”
“Food first,” Sasha said when her tummy rumbled.
Noel’s mouth widened as he stared at her stomach.
“My tummy is hungry,” Sasha said. “Let’s get you dressed. What do you want to wear today?” She drew the curtains, smiling as she spotted the morning sunshine. “We can play outside today,” she told Noel. “Ah, your face is much better. Do you have a hat?”
“Yes.” Noel bounced out of his narrow bed and almost tumbled when his feet caught in the covers.
Sasha grabbed him before he hit his head, and he beamed at her.
“I like to go outside. Sheryl made me play inside.”
“I see,” Sasha said. “Where do you keep your clothes?”
“In here.” Noel was dancing on the spot and crossing his legs.
“He needs the privy,”her dragon said.“We should take him there.”
“Ooh! Excellent thinking.”Sasha moved closer to Noel. “Bathroom first,” she said, repeating Max’s words of the previous night.
Noel sped from his bedroom and ducked into another room.
“Shout out if you need help.” Sasha waited outside the door and listened for the right noises, following by the flushing apparatus she’d discovered earlier. It made everything disappear. So hygienic and less smelly than the privy back home.
Noel emerged, and Sasha directed him to the second room they’d discovered. Water poured from the taps, both hot and cold, and soap came in liquid form from a bottle. Sasha helped Noel to wash his hands and face.
“I want to pick my clothes.” Noel pressed his lips together as if he expected an argument.
“You can do that.”
Noel’s little shoulders relaxed. He trotted back to his chamber and opened a wooden drawer. He pulled out a bright yellow shirt in soft fabric. On the front was the picture of a green frog. From a second drawer, he picked a pair of trews in tough blue fabric. “Socks. Underpants,” Noel said as if going through a mental list.
“Lucky for us, he seems to know what he’s doing,”Sasha’s dragon said.
“And lucky for us, we get to make any mistakes with just Noel present,”Sasha replied.“I hope Max writes detailed lists because otherwise, this will be a tremendous adventure.”
“We’re smart,”her dragon said with her standard confidence.“We can do anything. That’s why they call us Sasha, The Lionhearted.”
With the help of Max’s list, Sasha bumbled her way through a breakfast of something called rice bubbles—her dragon and Noel adored the sounds they made when coming into contact with the milk—and toast. Noel proved helpful, and since Max’s notes said it was essential to keep Noel active, she decided to do a little cleaning before they played outside in the garden.
“Max makes my bed,” Noel stated once they’d cleared the kitchen.
“Do you make Max’s bed?” Sasha asked. Although they had servants, her parents had taught Sasha and her brothers to care for themselves and to keep their chambers tidy. Woe betide if Mother’s room inspection failed her high standards. She and her siblings had learned to do it right the first time.
“No,” Noel said, frowning at her.
“Max is tired,” Sasha said. “If we do a few chores for him, he’ll have more time to rest and play with us when he gets home.” She didn’t think he understood. “I’ll show you how to make your bed today, and tomorrow we can do it before we come down to breakfast.”
Noel’s frown deepened, and Sasha understood what Max meant when he’d written his brother could become very stubborn. Max had also mentioned Noel enjoyed singing and music, so she tried another tactic. “I was going to share my bed-making song. My mother taught it to me to help the work go faster.”
“What bed-making song?”her dragon asked.
“The one we’re going to make up,”Sasha said.“About a silly old dragon called Bruceous who hated to make beds. I’m certain something bad happened to him because he was a nasty dragon.”
