Land of dragons 2

"What do you think, Mao?" Asked the older brother. "No, How do you feel about it?"

"I think it's time"

"Good" He said, with a warm smile, and he tapped his brother on the shoulder. 

"What about you, Freda?" He looked at his sister 

"I'm hesitant. I'm not sure there's enough momentum" 

"You think the people won't come if we call?"

"I think our call won't be loud enough to reach them" 

"Do you want to elaborate more?"

Mao stood up and went towards the crackling fire. Some lizards were cooking. He turned them and added some dry twigs to the fire. 

"Be careful not to burn it Mao" Said Freda " It looks a bit too hot" 

"I'm giving it just enough fire to get it there" replied Mao, fixating intensely on the fire. 

"You were saying Freda?" prompted Chi, the older brother, to get his sister back on track. 

Freda stood up and started preparing a smaller fire.

"What I mean is that we are counting too much on people here" She took small logs from one of Mao's fires to light hers. "Once we do this, there's no coming back, so we can't leave room for half measures. It either works or not".

"You're saying you don't have faith in the people?" asked Mao

"I have faith in us. Us three" She said. "Because we know the truth. It's imprinted into our minds and souls since we were born, and we are reminded of it every single day" She set a big bowl above the fire while minding it. "For others, these are ancient stories, covered under decades of servitude and abuse. Time breaks anything".

"I see what you mean Freda" Said Chi as he got up and moved towards the entrance, "You think the probability of failure is too high".

"Yes" said Freda "and for such a big plan, we're putting too much faith in people". 

"You don't think the dragon will be enough to jog their memories?" asked Mao.

"I can't be sure of that. I'd like to think that, but a voice in the back of my head is whispering 'What if?' ".

"I love our discussions," said Chi, looking at the outside, facing the entrance of the cave. "I have a lot of appreciation for both of you, Mao, Freda" he took a pause "Sometimes I feel that we are not even three, you know? that we are one. The discussions I have with you is as natural and innate to me as my own thoughts". 

"The dragon unites us" said Freda 

"Yes, but most importantly, we are the dragon" said Chi "Together we make one"

"what do you want to say Chi?" said Mao, as he picked up the lizards

"Come here" said Chi 

They both approached the entrance. It was a cave-like structure high up on a spikey mountain. outside was a forest of similar thin, tall, sharp-edged elevations, like nails, dug to the ground. The wind was howling ferociously. 

"You see " said Chi, as he made a gesture "All this is our responsibility. Everything from those nests to the far end of the Ghobi desert" and he took a pause " everything" "and as the heirs of the dragon, we have no choice but to shoulder that responsibility" He looked at his siblings intensely "You are a part of me" 

Silence filled the empty space room

"We'll follow your hunch on this one Freda" said Chi "We have too much at stake" "I'm sorry for that Mao, I know you're burning for this" 

"It is what it is, I trust your judgment" said Mao, and he munched on his lizard and handed out the others to his siblings. "These are getting cold. The soup is also ready Freda"

"Great. I'll go get some. I made it with special herbs today" said Freda

"Sounds lovely" said Chi 

"What will we do then?" asked Mao 

"I have an idea, but it's a bit uncoventional" said Chi with a smile

Freda handed out bowls of soup to her brothers as they all sat down. " I knew you had something else up your sleeve" said Freda 

Chi took a long sip of his soup followed by a fat bite "this might be our best meal yet!" he said. 

"Now, listen up"