How Dragons Survived the Flood

Chapter 4 Part 1

The garden fountain gurgled in the darkness. Noah had not bothered with wearing his cloak. In the dim light from the small oil candle Tochen held, Noah, stood tall. The glow from his skin reminded Japheth of the tall columns of marble in Uruk. Noah raised his hands and began yet another prayer.

Japheth audibly sighed, garnering a stern glance from his father. Instinctively, Japh stood taller, preparing himself for battle.

No battle came. Noah simply raised his hands and, looking skyward, began again. "A New Moon rises, Lord. Always re-appearing after the darkest night, it demonstrates Your steadfastness. It ushers in the seasons, marking Your time, showing your unwavering devotion to Your people nightly, mighty Yahweh.

"You filled the sky with Your stars to remind us of You. Even in the darkest night, Your lodestar, Thuban, shines. Like Your lodestar, You are always there to guide us.

"As the moon hides its face in the vast mysteries of Your sky for a time, You, too, may hide Your face from us for a time; but like the moon, the glory of Your Fullness will always return to shine upon us. We only have to look to Thuban and the moon to remind us of Your unfaltering ways."

Japh looked at the scimitar moon, its sliver of light dwarfed by the great expanse of night sky. He looked at Thuban, or Alpha Dra, as the dragons called it. The star's unwavering, steadfast nature was not new to him; the dragons relied on it during their rare nighttime flights. If this star, the star that the dragons claimed was named after them, showed the constancy of Yahweh, did it also show Yahweh cared for the dragons?

Japh still could not see why He would want them to come as eggs onto the Ark. Surely an all-knowing god knew more dragons died in the egg, or right after the hatching, than survived into maturity. He shook his head, trying to focus his muddled thoughts.

"Tonight we give thanks for many blessings." Noah continued his prayer. "Most important, we give thanks for You, Yahweh, the greatest blessing of all. Constant and faithful, You know we grow weary of waiting for the end days. Even though we still prepare; we wish the waiting were over, the task completed. In Your steadfastness, You give us the moon's cycle to mark the days until the end."

Noah looked around the small group of people, until he saw Japheth. He nodded. "Yahweh, You also give us encouragement by the return of Japheth. Such righteous encouragement. Uplifting us, filling us with hope."

Noah turned his gaze heavenward one more time. "Our time in this desolate wilderness of unknowing, filled with our righteous labor preparing the Ark, is almost at an end. Let us give thanks as we prepare the ground one more time, hoping it will be our last time to plant, our last time to gather, until we do it in the new world. Japheth has been returned and the time is near."

Japheth shuddered in the darkness.

Noah smiled.

The house servants had set the eating areas, filling the table with ceremonial items. Many small dishes held savory and sweet sauces, diced aromatic herbs, and spices to be added to the main meal. Each diner had a set of dishes in their place; a circular three-legged holder made of hammered brass from which the light of the single oil lamp reflected; a clay cup, carefully crafted and polished; and the utensils they would need throughout the meal.

A small brass censer filled with glowing coals sat before Noah. Next to it was a plate containing the unbroken fruit of the Tree of Life. Its buds ranged in size from large enough to fill a man's palm to the size of a man's thumb. Japh did not want more of the Tree. He wanted food.

He sat through another long-winded prayer and watched Noah add the plant to the censer. Japh swallowed his sigh, as incense filled the air.

"Tonight is a special night. It is the Budding Flower Moon, and Yahweh has seen fit to return Japheth to us," said Shem. He motioned to an eight-armed, bronze candle holder that sat in front of him. He took the first slender candle and held its wick into the flame of the oil candle that sat next to Noah. "Yahweh shares his light with Noah, His servant," he said as the taper caught fire.

Shem continued, "As His servant, Noah shares His wisdom with us." One by one, he lighted each of the remaining candles, intoning the names of the people sitting around the table, finishing with, "and we pray for the one remaining to join us; Your will be done."

Politeness held Japh in his seat, repressing his impatient sighs, but it did not stop his stomach from growling. Servants walked around the table, sprinkling scented water on everyone's hands. Japh rubbed the water into his skin, inhaling the light orange scent. Memories of watching the night sky with Ismi while wild orange trees blossomed nearby filled his mind, distracting him from the religious monotony.

After Noah finished the blessing and sharing of the yayin and the bread — more symbolic gestures that Japheth had long forgotten — he sat.

Na'amah motioned for the servants to bring in the food. The first servant entered carrying a large round tray. Resting in holes cut into the tray were beautiful, covered bowls with rounded bottoms. The bowls shimmered and reflected a multitude of colors in the candlelight.

A second servant gently lifted one bowl and placed it in the metal holder in front of Noah. Japheth's hunger vanished as he realized what he had taken for intricate pottery was not a bowl, but an inverted dragon's egg.

The egg was as tall as the span from the tip of his thumb to the tip of his little finger. The thick, rounded bottom of the shell had been carved flat and smooth and acted as a lid to the pointed end. There was a rim of gold where the shell halves rested against each other.

He knew these bowls. They were his mother's.

They had always been precious to him, but now — after his time with the dragons — they were more so since he understood how fragile they really were. Gold filled his egg's cracks, holding it together. Tracing the spider-web veins of gold, Japh saw the web's center point on the equator of the shell, the point where the wyrmling broke through during the hatch. He smiled at the thought of the small wyrmling emerging into the world.

"The bowls are a part of your mother's dowry, Japheth." Noah stroked the egg's side as he spoke, but did not leave time for Japheth to reply. "Her father's hunters found a nest, empty except for shells. Your mother pieced the eggs back together. Her brother, Tubal-Cain, filled the cracks with gold and hammered the bronze holders for her."