“We’ll see,” Amabie said shortly. She turned, her three tails flipping restlessly behind her. “Let’s bring her the liver. Father is already waiting in her chambers.” She sped off to the castle faster than we couldfollow.
“Come on,” Shota said, waving us onto Tama’s back. “This is wayfaster.”
We climbed onto the dragon’s back, and she shot off after Amabie. “I can’t believe you got back so fast,” Shota said. “Ryujin thought you’d be gone for at least twodays.”
“Well, we had a crab army to help us,” Isaid.
Shota’s eyes widened as we passed through the front entrance. “A crab army? You’ve got to tell me all aboutit!”
“Later,” Raiden said as we sailed up the huge double staircase that curved around the entryway. We flew through a maze of halls, the dragon swimming so fast I didn’t even attempt to keep track of where we were going. She stopped outside a huge white door trimmed with pink sea shells, and Amabie tugged itopen.
“Mother,” she called as we hopped off Tama’s back. “The shamans havereturned!”
“Do they have the liver?” a weak female voice answered. We followed Tama into a humongous parlor room with dragon-sized furniture, then into a similarly gigantic bedroom just beyond. Lying on a bed the size of a small island was a female dragon that had clearly once been beautiful. She was lithe and sinuous, with deep green scales, but many of them were blackened with rot, and the water around her was clouded with something icky. Raiden threw out an arm before I could get closer, pushing us both back against thebed.
“We shouldn’t get any closer,” he muttered. “The gods only know what might happen if we catch the samesickness.”
Ryujin was sitting next to his wife, clutching her clawed hand with his own. His eyes brightened with relief when Amabie pulled out the liver and handed it tohim.
“They brought it,” he said, holding it up for inspection. “The monkey king’s liver, no less. Eat it and be well, mylove.”
Amabie and Tama helped prop the dragon queen up onto the pillows so she could eat. Her deep silver gaze was lackluster, but she opened her maw anyway and ate the liver. The moment she swallowed it, a change came over her. Her scales began to ripple, the rot melting away. Light poured out from the skin beneath, bathing her in a softglow.
“It’s working!” Ryujin cried. Amabie and Tama both squealed, hugging each other in excitement as their mother’s entire body radiated with power. She raised her head to look at us, and a thrill went through me at the sight of her eyes—they were blazing brightly, alert and full oflife.
“I am healed,” she said, a note of amazement in her gravelly voice. “For the first time in months, I feel as though I can get out of bed!” She stretched her long neck out toward us. “Do I have you to thank for myrecovery?”
“Indeed we do,” Ryujin said, his entire face shining with happiness. He inclined his head toward us—the equivalent of a dragon bow. “You have done extremely well, shamans. We shall have a feast in your honor tonight, and to celebrate my wife’srecovery!”
“Yes, a feast!” Amabie and Tama cried. The two of them enveloped their mother in hugs. “We shall dance and sing again, like we used to do every evening before you fellsick!”
As I watched Ryujin’s family celebrate the return of their queen’s health, the persistent, dull ache in my heart, which I’d barely been aware of, lifted a bit.I’ve done this,I thought dazedly. Maybe I’d used shamanism instead of medicine, but I’d cured someone of a fatal disease. And all it had taken was a monkeyliver.
If I was capable of this much, what else could I do? Was there a different path that could lead me to a cure for my mother, one that didn’t involve chemotherapy? The idea was certainly a good motivation for continuing to learn more aboutshamanism.
“Ryujin-sama,” Raiden said, breaking my train of thought. “We are overjoyed to see that your wife is recovered, and of course we should celebrate. But Aika and I really must be going. May we have the jewels and weapon we werepromised?”
“Of course,” Ryujin said, waving a hand at us. “But we can handle all that tomorrow. You two will be staying as honored guests tonight and will attend the ball thisevening.”
“We will?” I blurted without thinking. Ryujin narrowed his eyes, and I hastily added, “Of course we would love to, but theurgency—”
“I understand the urgency,” Ryujin said. “Perhaps better than even you do. But you have tired out theUmigamefrom all your travels today, and he needs to rest. As do you,” he said pointedly. “A warrior is no good in battle if his mind is clouded from lack ofsleep.”
“Agreed,” the dragon queen said. “You shall all stay the night, and I will sing in yourhonor!”
Seeing no way out of this, the three of us bowed. “We are honored to be your guests for the evening,” Shota said. “But we have nothing towear.”
“Oh, that won’t be a problem,” Amabie said. She and Tama disengaged themselves from their mother and swam toward us, their mouths curving into crafty smiles. “Tama and I will dress you,” she said, hooking her arm throughmine.
“Uhh…” Raiden looked a little panicked. “I’m not sure that’s necessary,” he said as Tama curled her body around him andShota.
“Don’t be silly,” Shota said, grinning. He clapped Raiden on the shoulder. “I’ve been hanging out with these two all day—they’re great fun. We’re going to have a blast tonight. I guaranteeit.”
“It has been a very long day for you both,” Ryujin said. I glanced up at him, surprised at the compassion in his voice. “Amabie, why don’t you show our guests to their rooms so they can get some rest before the balltonight?”
“Why are we having a ball again?” Raiden asked in a pained voice. It was obvious that he wanted to get going, and I had to agree with him. We had more important things to do than attend aball.
Ryujin laughed, a booming sound that echoed in the chamber. “To honor your great victory, of course,” he said, his eyes gleaming. “You didn’t think you would be able to return with the monkey king’s liver, a feat no one here has been able to manage, and leave without fanfare, did you? We are going to have the grandest ofcelebrations!”
