Lilia was a princess burdened with ill omens and calamity.
She was born lame, and a witch foretold that one day she would kill her own father and seize the throne, bringing with her a fire that would consume everything.
The king was terrified. After the queen died, he exiled the five-year-old princess to the snowy mountains.
A wicked dragon lived on the mountain known as Eldorado.
It was ill-tempered and would, for no reason at all, unleash storms and lightning, whip up monstrous waves, or leave the sun hanging in the sky for an entire month.
It loathed humans.
Anyone who set foot on the mountain was driven away without mercy. Some even died, and nobody dared retrieve their bodies, leaving them to become bones beneath the endless snow.
No one thought Princess Lilia could survive.
*
"Ivis, Ivis, look what I brought back!"
A little girl, sweaty from playing and filthy from head to toe, appeared at the kitchen door of the mountain castle, holding a puppy just as dirty as she was.
The boy in the kitchen was multitasking, chopping fruit and meat and tending the stove, just as sweaty as she was. He turned around...
"Lilia! Do you know how hard that dress is to wash?"
The dragon named Ivis grumbled and complained, but dutifully washed the child and the puppy clean.
Lilia sat in the bathtub, kicking her little feet as she ate mango. Beside her, the puppy lapped at the water.
Suddenly, she said, "Ivis, I want a television."
Ivis soaked the clothes in separate piles according to color and answered without expression, "Sure. I'll take you down the mountain to steal one."
*
A golden dragon circled in the sky, its wings blotting out the sun and spreading terror throughout the kingdom.
But this time, it had not come to destroy anything.
A little nest was strapped to its back. A little girl hugged a little dog and poked out her little head, looking around curiously.
*
Reader's Guide:
1. The heroine is five at the start, the hero is seven, and dragons grow fast.
2. A sweet-and-sour fairy tale with few villainous plots.
3. If it's not your cup of tea, please don't read it. No unsolicited writing advice.
Theme: Wherever the heart is at peace, that is home
