Another letter has arrived from Minglemist! It was dangling from a doogwood twig in my yard this morning. A raven's feather attached to it caught my attention as it fluttered in the breeze, a shiny black beacon against the frosty dogwood leaves and berries. With the letter were pictures of some of the lesser dragons, drawn, of course, by Madeline Brown, housekeeper-secretary-general assistant to the eccentric biologist, T. P. Dunlap. One wonders, though, do these peculiar creatures really exist? Madeline seems like a down-to-earth person, though she admits she likes to make up fanciful stories. We can only read, and look, and speculate....
Here are sketches of three more of the dragon species T. P. has been studying. The green bullnose looks something like a frog, but with a spiny tail and little wings. The juveniles hatch in the water and wiggle around like tadpoles for a few weeks, then grow wings and flutter clumsily over the marshes, landing on the lily pads to lick nectar from the water lilies with their long tongues. The wild cloudy is one of my favorite dragons. They are very tame and tiny enough to perch on a finger. The fire they breathe is a fine white mist that hangs in the air and sparkles in sunlight. The third species is the dancing longtail, the only dragon in Minglemist to build nests of twigs and incubate its eggs like a bird does.
Now, on to other news: The first time T. P. brought me to Minglemist, I saw a magnificent horse-sized dragon rushing through the woods with a rider - a young man, I think - crouched low between the wings. I have to find him again. He has something I need, I can feel it. I want - I must! - ride a dragon too. I want to be rushing off to an exciting adventure with the wind whipping through my hair and the thrill of danger tingling in my spine. That beautiful, glittering dragon and its rider cast a spell on me, drawing me towards them like a moth to a flame. I must find them. I WILL have a grand adventure here in Minglemist. I just know it!!
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