Lin Hai's Journal - 5

 

Someday the world may come to make sense again. We did not get far into the gardens before being distracted by a pair of exhibition halls. Our first visit promised a magic show and it was amazing. The mermaid – merman? - Sugimoto picked both the Princess and myself from the audience… felt a little rigged but I don’t think I care. For Princess Kamiko he conjured a strange, fuzzy-green elastic ball for herself and Uta to play with. For myself he somehow made wings appear on my back! It was so strange and yet I knew how to control them, and thrilling! I got to touch the ceiling of the chamber and loop through the air and drift back down to the ground. It was more wonderful than I would have imagined and too brief. I wonder if I will ever get to experience that again?

It would have been a good time even without the magic show. The mermaids had a fascinating water clock which captivated the Princess and myself during our wait. I tried to follow the mechanism, I’d love to build my own someday but it would be easier if I could get the plans off someone, or some advice from its maker. Might need to wait until we have settled down for travelling, or expect to stay a long while somewhere. Worth it to create such a masterpiece.

Afterwards the Princess went to play on a little island with Uta and the ball that had been conjured for them, and I wandered into the lecture hall. That is where it got extremely weird, and I know this seems a late moment to place such a warning but it is true.

I only caught the end of the lecture, which made a catalogue of kinds of dragon in this world and their monarchs. It was interesting, although very confusing – I had never heard any of this before, and the thought of actually encountering a dragon sent a shiver through me. But that is not truly where it is so weird.

After the lecture ended I went to collect the Princess and Uta, but Uta wanted to go into the lecture hall I’d just left. It turns out she knows the lecturer, a mermaid by the name of [???]. And, I could scarcely believe what she suggested, but Uta agreed and so, somehow, this wolf companion of the Princess is truly the royal green dragon I had just been hearing of in the lecture before!?!? The royal Midori-Ryuu, dragon of Spring.

She does not look like a dragon and yet everyone in this city has recognised her. It must somehow be true. My head hurts to think of this and I wonder what it will mean. Will Uta want to be treated differently? Has she important business to attend to? I overheard something about a meeting next week, so perhaps we had better escort her.

I don’t know how to process this. The wolf who has watched over the Princess from her early years, actually among the four great dragons of another world? It makes my head spin.