How Dragons Survived the Flood

Chapter 5 - Part 1

The next morning Japh woke again to the sound of the blaring shofar. He stayed on his thin pallet for a moment, eyes shut, listening for the flute trill of his dragon. He did not hear it, but he did see Ismi's glow.

He heard his family waking up around him and groaned. He had a decision to make, one that had not troubled him in many a year. Which tunic to wear? He rolled over and looked at his clothing. While the linen was fine and beautiful, the dragon-skin was comfortable, and he did not have to worry about it getting dirty. Decision made, he slipped into the comfort of his dragon-skin tunic and went to see about breakfast.

Taking his bowl of hot wheat mash to the courtyard, Japheth sat for a moment on the bench, looking at the disorder. Setting his breakfast aside to cool, he began pulling spindly weeds from around the base of a rose, picking up broken clay bowls, and removing detritus from among the garlic shoots. He was on his knees studying a grape vine, the only tended plant in the courtyard, when his new sister found him.

"Good morning, Brother."

Startled out of his reverie, he looked up. "Good morning to you, as well, Ne'elatama'uk."

She looked down at him, "Scythes and plows are your blade, yet you cling to a dagger." She handed him his knife. Tucking her hair behind her ear, she smiled, "Please call me Tama."

She looked closer at the plant. "Yes, grape roots make a lovely purple hue, but today I need brown." Muttering to herself, she wandered away.

Japheth stood and went to the bench. He tied the sheath around his calf and experimentally pulled the dagger from it. Yes, it had been used as a scythe to cut down tall plants; a plow, to gouge a quick hole in the ground; and a shovel, to unearth delicious roots. He carefully replaced the blade and sat down to eat his cold cereal.

He did not get very far into his meal before his father came out of his sleeping room. "There you are Japheth. It is good to see that you are an early riser. If I were to judge you by yesterday's example, I would think that living with the dragons had made you lazy." He yawned and stretched before continuing. "Shem and Tochen are out surveying the Ark. Mid-morning we will meet in my sanctuary to discuss your bride-to-be."

Noah turned in a small circle, surveying Japh's handiwork. When he stopped he pointed to a plant. "Do you see the vine in the corner?"

Japh nodded. It was the grape vine that he had been studying.

"It is dear to me. Your mother gave it to me as a wedding gift. She also taught me how to coax it into bearing the lush fruit we used for the yayin. It is certainly a plant that should be on the Ark. Male and female."

Japh bristled at his father's presumptuous tone, but contained his ire. "Yes, Father. I was thinking about that just this morning," but his father was already leaving.

Japh spent the rest of the morning continuing with his efforts in the garden. Staying busy helped him keep his mind away from his worries. By the time he was called to his father's sanctuary, all the detritus had been picked up and the weeds pulled. Reluctantly, he went to his room to clean up, changing into the linen tunic from the night before.

He entered the sanctuary chamber and stood by the door, surprised by the fresh flowers in the room. Noah turned and looked at him, "There you are, and out of that abysmal dragon-skin tunic. Good."

Japheth gave a curt nod to his father and then to Shem and Tochen. Both returned his silent greeting.

"Tochen," began Noah, "you will be in charge of Japheth, making sure he gets to Temple to study with the priests. They are reluctant to take him because he is so much older than the rest. Therefore, it is imperative that he is prompt and knows his studies."