How I Met Hena Chakelithp

Chapter 9. The Accident

Hena wanted to sleep in the dragon stables with Lindune instead of in the house. She soon started to ride around the island on Lindune's back with great ease. It certainly was easier to ride a dragon that you were compatible with. However, Kudika still held a grudge on Hena, and was complaining to me whenever she got the chance. She was apparently getting to the last few inches of her rope, and she finally reached the end of it on one fateful day in late March when I was going about my normal business tapping the maple trees.
Hena and Lindune watched silently. I made holes in the trees, let the sap flow into a bucket, and then boiled it for hours until it turned into a thick, sweet syrup.
Most of it I put in canning jars to sell at the Mayfair in Asluncia Square. But some of it I poured into molds and cooled in the snow until it hardened into maple sugar.
Then I put the buckets in their normal, year-round position on the rooftop to collect rain.
"Srarori!" Hena said one day.
"Yeah?" I answered.
"Do you...fancy Arvern?"
I heard a rustling in the bushes.
It all happened so suddenly after that.

At that moment, Kudika (the dragon, not the person) came charging out of the bushes toward Hena at an incredible speed. With one fluid movement, Kudika whipped her tail around. I heard a horrible whomp as it collided with Hena's stomach, flicking her over the forest! I could see her body contorting painfully against the wind. But I couldn't see it for long, because Hena was whizzing high and far until finally she started losing height and went behind the treetops.

I heard a distant splash, then nothing.

Anger rose and boiled inside me at the unfairness, brutality, and utter madness of what Kudika had done. All because Hena had asked me a personal question! It was a pathetic excuse to do something like that to a person. Clearly she'd just been waiting for a fuse to blow so she could finally give Hena a piece of her mind. But that wasn't a piece of her mind! It was a piece of her tail, if anything.
I quickly shot Kudika the dirtiest look I could muster, then raced with all the speed I had toward the place where I had heard the splash.
I finally came to the shore and without a second thought, I dived right in.
Every nerve in my body screamed in protest. The cold was agony. It was March, and snow was still out. For a second I felt utter paralysis. But then I came to my senses and rose up. I looked around frantically for any sign of Hena. It wasn't until I saw her, climbing up onto the rocks with surprising endurance, that I realized I hadn't needed to jump in. Hena had sailed all the way here for three days. She'd had plenty of experience with water. I had been unwise.

I climbed out of the ocean and led Hena into the woods. Behind a big boulder was a crystal-clear, steaming hot spring.
"Get in," I said. "I'm gonna go talk to Kudika."
I walked over to the place where Kudika lay, looking satisfied with her deeds.

"Kudika Herea!" I harshly yelled. "That was mean! Do you know what you just did? You knocked my friend into the ocean. It is March. It is cold. Cold. And look what you did to ME! Do I look dripping wet to you! I do, don't I? You just acted like a... a... a SHMEPEK!"
I was momentarily shocked at myself for using such language.
Kudika slunk away with her head down. I went inside, quickly boiled some water, poured it into two mugs, and put in some violets and cloves. I picked the mugs up and headed back toward the spring. My teeth were chattering by now. I handed one to Hena, then slid into the deliciously warm spring.