Barren

I fell down onto something rough and wide. I tensed up as a horrible wetness covered my whole body. I yelped as it moved under me. It tossed me about for a moment, then flicked me backward. Down, and down, and down. There was some kind of fleshy slope my back pressed against, slowing me just enough for the drop to not kill me on impact.

I screamed as I passed by flashing, glowing areas of heat. My back was starting to burn from friction, from the heat, and then there was a straight drop. I took a deep breath as my back was given a moment of relief. Then, I landed sharply on my belly. “Owww…” I forced myself to roll over. From such a fall, I should have broken a bone or two, but I was caught almost softly by the rubbery ground.

The air caught in my throat, and I fell over coughing and gagging. It was harsh, wrong. I pinched my nose shut, still laying painfully on the floor. “Gods, I’m still dreaming…” I forced myself to stand. This place can’t have extended more than a hundred meters long and thirty wide. It wasn’t ten high. A bubbling stream ran through the middle, no higher than my shins. The ground made a long, subtle valley. The middle was less than two meters deeper than the edges. There was nothing to be seen. Not a soul, not a luxury.

I pressed my lips together. I only felt the dry feeling in my mouth now. I stumbled toward the steam cupping my hands together for a drink. But, before I could take any, I was shaken to the ground by a building, omnipresent voice, “I wouldn’t drink that. It’s certainly not water.”

“Who’s there?” I turned around sharply.

“Didn’t you hear my voice before, Princess?” She hummed, “I’m the dragon who just ate you. You’re quite sweet, you know, almost sugary. A little tart.”

“Funny,” I kicked the ground with my bare toes, “I had a lot to drink last night. This is a dream. You’re a dream. I don’t care.”

“Go back to sleep then,” She cooed, “and we’ll speak when you wake up… if you wake up…”

I reached down into the bubbling stream. This was a fantasy, a nothing I’d wake up from. It was until my fingers grazed the surface. I screamed, pulling my hand away. Small blisters formed under my fingernails. They would take a week to heal, and there would remain a slight scar on my middle finger. I fell backward, “Why?”

“Why does acid burn? Why isn’t this a dream? That’s just how the world works.”

“So, when are you planning to let me go?” I tried to rest my head in the palms of my hands, but had to pull my burned fingers away. The pressure sizzled against them.

“I don’t understand.” She giggled, “How regularly do humans let their breakfast go?”

I threw my elbow sharply against the ground. I tried to bite at it, by my teeth couldn’t even make a dent. All this, and the dragon just quietly burped. I looked down at the hissing acid, “I hate you.”

“So, fussy,” She complained, “just be a good girl and settle nicely, all right?”

“Settle?” I gawked, “Settle for what? To die in a couple hours?”

“A couple hours? What kind of a horribly uncivilized monster do you think I am? You’ll be fine for a year probably!”

I looked around, “A year?” I whimpered, “A year to do what? To just sit here?”

“That’s what people usually do, yes,” She said, “oh, but they pretend to hate me and stop making conversation. And, some of them died of thirst or something else like that. I’ve never really gotten this right before.”

“Well, there’s nothing to drink,” I said firmly, “how is anyone supposed to last a year.”

“I’ve never really thought of that,” she replied, “well, there was one prince who tripped in the stream, and he couldn’t get up. That was a bit sad. I only do this every hundred years, so when it goes wrong, it’s quite a disappointment, you know?”

“Well, you’ve got to figure that out,” I chastised her, “water is one thing, but wine or ale! And, there needs to be food, too. Grapes, mutton- and something to cook it with!” I looked around the empty valley, “Someone to share it with…”

“You want other people there, too?” She thought out loud, “Nobody’s ever asked that before.”

“Heavens, Bubbles!” I looked down at the stream, “Bubbles, you’re Bubbles now. Of course there needs to be other people! Loneliness can drive people mad, you know.”

“It can? I’m usually alone for a hundred years at a time. Or a thousand when I’m hibernating.”

“When you’re hibernating?”

“Of course!” She yawned, “I hibernate for a thousand years at a time. I just woke up, actually.”

“Lucky me…”

“Really?” She asked in a sing-songy voice, “You know, the last person- he? She? I dunno, that person was terribly mean, though. What was their name again?”

“You don’t remember their name?” I asked.

“Well it’s been a thousand years!” She huffed, “And besides, I doubt you could tell me what you ate for supper two nights ago.”

My fingers twitched. I pressed my lips together and turned my head to the side like it was a challenge, “Oh, there was that feast… Salmon,” I said assuredly, “Salmon? Salmon.” Somehow, I needed to prove it was possible.

“Water…” She said like she needed to remind herself, “I don’t get it. Why do people need to drink?”

“What?” I asked.

“It doesn’t make much sense is all,” Bubbles whispered, “eating and drinking everyday and multiple times in the same day. Why don’t you just wait a few years each time? Why do you need water to live?”

“I don’t really know,” I shook my head, “I guess we just do.”

“What if I just drink it out of the ocean?” Bubbles asked cautiously, “It’s exciting, I’ve never tried drinking anything before.”

“Ocean water won’t do.”

“It’s water isn’t it?”

“Yes. No. It’s not the same,” I said, “It has to be from a pond, or a stream, or a well. It can’t be too dirty, either. It shouldn’t have been sitting still for long.”

Bubbles thought for a moment, “You’re more helpful than the others. This is going to be fun.”

Getting water successfully took trial and error over two or three days. Eventually, she swallowed a group of buckets that I could use to collect the water properly rather than trying to drink it off the floor. By then, we’d figured out she could eat any kind of food, so long as she swallowed it whole, and I could have it, myself. That hadn’t crossed her mind, for a reason that chilled me as she said it. She never had to eat more than one thing at a time, she never saw any purpose in it. Then, fine clothes and jewelry. Apparently, when she flew into a village, they would just give her whatever she asked for. They didn’t even question the validity of what she was saying when she told them it was for a princess.

Then, my bed. The longhouse. The broken bridge. And, I finally asked for one more thing. Other people.