It’s cold, though.I’m lucky we’re not buried in snow.Mount Timpanogos is as pretty as Norm always said it was, but it’s colder than I imagined.I crouch as closely to Agrippa as I can.I have no idea how the dragons stay so warm, but I’m grateful for it.When we reach Grove Creek, I direct her to follow it until we reach the reservoir.
The sun’s barely starting to be visible over the horizon now, and I’m forced to stifle a yawn.
You’re tired.You need to sleep.
I shake my head.“No time.I have to get to my friend as early as I can.We can’t waste a second.”
Why do you believe your friend will help us?
It’s an interesting question.Why do I?
“Norm’s kind of a dork,” I say.“Which means nothing to you, but the way I met him was...he was super into something called Live Action Roleplay Games—LARP for short.”
I have no idea what that is.
“It’s a game where humans dress up and pretend they live in a world that’s not ours.”
I’m still confused.
“So am I, believe me.”I can’t help my smile.“Anyway, Norm wanted to learn how to fight with a wooden sword on his quests.He tried a few places, but eventually, they referred him to the gym I was training at.”
For what?
“Norm was a little...”How would the dragons describe it?“A little fluffy.He never felt like he fit in with the other humans in the games.”
He ate too much.This, I’ve seen.
“It’s not just that—the other guys he played these games with thought he was kind of a joke.He wanted to be a cleric, which is like a religious priest or something, but they were supposed to be warriors too, and Norm wasn’t much of a warrior.He worked all day at a job he hated—he was a plumber, and it paid well.So one day, he took the money he’d saved and took a vacation where he came out to Houston to learn to use a sword properly.He wanted to show them he wasn’t someone to laugh at.”
He wanted to become a warrior.
“Yes.”I should have led with that.The blessed love their warriors.“Exactly.”
And did you teach him to be a warrior?
“I was like twelve years old,” I say.
How many years are you now?
“Almost twenty-three,” I say.
You haven’t seen this friend in a long time?
“He came out for a week of vacation almost every year after that,” I say.“That’s how I know the name of his gaming store.After he figured out how to handle those wooden swords, I guess he became kind of like the warrior-cleric of the nerds, and Pleasant Grove is chock full of dorky people like him.”
I don’t understand ‘nerds.’
“Me either, sister.”
We’re at the reservoir, and I can’t help looking around and taking it in as the sun rises behind us.It’s serene and beautiful in a way not many things have been for me in months.
“I need to leave you here,” I say.“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
You want me to wait?
It pains me to say this, because it’ll take me forever to get back to her where Axel and Phileas are, but she can’t wait here.As the sun comes up more fully and people start percolating, someone will spot her for sure.“You need to go back to Axel.I’ll find you soon.”
How?
