Ah. Another fire. Poor dears. And another refugee…
Busy digging. Digging, digging, digging…
"Um, 'scuse me. Who are you?"
She met my gaze with an imperious stare. "I am known as Lizardia."
"Lizardia. Right."
Hmm, I surmised. So this is who's been wreaking havoc in my garden.
"But you can call me Liz for short."
"Liz, you ate all my vegetables, didn't you?!!!"
"Yesssss….Look, a girl's gotta eat, ya know. Especially one in my delicate condition."
She looked nothing like delicate. Six feet long, powerful tail, big claws.
"Fine. So Liz, what are you doing now?"
"Making a nest, obviously."
"How many do you need? There are holes everywhere!"
A spray of dirt hit me in square in the face.
"Just the one." This time I dodged.
"I can't quite decide, you see."
"I see, now that I've got the dirt out of my eyes, that you've made one hell of a mess!"
"Yes. Well. Planning on a big family."
I said nothing for a moment, and she went back to gouging and sweeping.
And then she turned and asked me, fire-eyed, as if she didn't really like me watching her work, "So, you see what I've been doing. What have you been doing?"
"Two things actually."
"Oh yes?" The beast seemed quite interested all of a sudden, but I thought it more likely she was having another rest. The hole was by this time ginormous.
"I'm working on another book, of course."
"Oh yeah, I heard about that! So, what's it about?"
"It's about nature, Liz. It's called Dargo, A Feel-Good Novella.
"You'd love it. I've just published it and now I'm planning an audio version. Here's the link:"
"I don't have time to read! Can't you see? But, the audio, oh goody! That would be something for me to listen to at night. It's much too dark in here to read."
"Yes, I expect it is."
"So, you said two things." Liz stopped to clean her nails; a pointless exercise I mused. "What else have you been working on?"
"My show, Liz."
"Show?"
"It's a live theatre performance - based on my time-travel adventure story, The Palace of the Stars."
"Are there any dragons in it?"
"We had dragons last time. This time it's something a little different.
"Anyway, here's the book: https://www.amazon.com/Palace-Stars-Harker-Investigates-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B01HH2OHZ2/ref=sr_1_3?crid=25YCNHBCUPX8U&keywords=karina+mcroberts&qi
"And here's the show:
"Great, thanks. OK. Enough chit chat. I've got to get back to work."
"That's one hell of a hole, Liz."
"Like I said, big family. Gotta re-populate ya know."
"But what am I going to do with all this dirt, Liz?
"I left you a shovel. Maybe put some fires out with it. See ya."
And into her latest excavation she did crawl.
I shouted in to her, "And keep your filthy claws out of my garden!"
In reply, she called back, "Can I be a dragon in one of your stories? The fantasy series, Chelandra. That one."
"Sure Liz." I thought she might need something of a makeover, but it could work….
"Oh goody!"
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