Natural Light

“There weren’t always dragons in the Valley.” Fifi stacked business cards on the granite countertop and recited her usual spiel. A dozen women—all of them visibly pregnant—eyed the cards greedily.

“But just one look around this home…” She motioned to the gleaming white counters. They sparkled like snow and reflected sunlight on a vintage 2001 glass chandelier overhead; the rays bounced again and swirled into the recesses of an adjacent vaulted parlor. In the business, they call that natural light. Bringing the outside in. Highly desirable.

“… Just one look around and you know you’ve found something truly magical.” Her delivery of the punchline was a little flat, but it landed nonetheless. The women gaped. One husband let out a low whistle and someone gave a pandering laugh.

Fifi went down her mental checklist. “The kitchen was updated in 2022, but the style is classic and timeless. Cherry hardwood floors. Custom cabinetry. Premium appliances. Top-of-the-line fire retardant insulation, inside and out. Like all homes in White Rock Valley, the rooftop was reinforced with steel beams after the Discovery, so dragons on the roof are no more bothersome than squirrels.”

Fifi motioned as she spoke—first to the floor, then to the cabinets, then appliances, then windows, then ceiling. Twenty-four pairs of eyes followed her every gesture.

“And of course, White Rock Elementary is in a fantastic school district, if you’re thinking about the kids.” She couldn’t help but motion to an especially round belly at the front of the group. It belonged to a red-haired woman. With freshly manicured fingers, the woman cradled her tummy, rubbing it like a good luck charm as she gawked.

“With that, I’ll leave you all some time to explore the home on your own. Please take a business card, and just scan it for details and my contact information.”

The crowd rushed forward, lunging at the cards, and Fifi stepped quickly out of the way towards the back door. The redhead followed.

“Oh isn’t it just hilarious that the school district used to be the draw here?” She flipped her hair and bared her teeth in an overenthusiastic grin. “But now, ha! Who cares about school when your child can have a second nature beast? A dragon, nonetheless!”

Again she rubbed her good luck tummy, a little more frantically than before. “I mean, dragons are the second nature to have. The creatures you need for your child to have you know, have an edge in life. Right, handsome?” She nodded to her husband.

Handsome grabbed her hand and stopped the rubbing. He gave her a look as if to say, Keep cool. Don’t show your cards. Then he patted her pregnant belly. “I don’t know. What about the Woodlands, outside Houston? A griffin would be a wonderful second nature for our little guy.”

Fifi gave a polite shrug; she was too tired to play this game. She knew they would make an offer. They all would.

Redhead prattled on, “We want to give our baby every opportunity in life. And we all know that in today’s world, the world we live in, he needs a second nature creature. And only the best will do! Surely you understand. Now, your website says that you were born right here in the Valley. So, do you have a…”

Fifi shook her head quickly.

“Of course not, how silly of me. You wouldn’t be a realtor now if you had a dragon. Oh, and you probably would have been tangled up in the, you know, all the fighting… or I guess they call it, the resistance…?”

She let the word drag until it became a question begging for an answer.

Fifi forced a professional grin. How should she handle it this time, the pacifist angle? She eyed Handsome. No, he had the look of a patriot. Evasion, then.

“I’m too old. Born just before the dragons were unearthed by—”

“Oh, I know this! Joe Saeur, December 20, 2022. The first dragon-bonded little boy. Just around the corner from here, on Spring Branch. Right?”

Fifi clenched her jaw but managed a pleasant nod. That Joe Sauer crap again. To keep from rolling her eyes, she looked out to the backyard and pretended to smile at another buyer.

Couples milled around the deck past the meticulously staged teak patio furniture and onto a small terrace. They admired the landscaping, and rightly so; the rose bushes were especially vibrant. Fifi noticed that the branches on a large cedar elm tree near the edge of the property were hanging low, lower than she remembered.

“Oh Fifi, is it? Look, Fifi. We’re serious about getting into this neighborhood. In fact, I’d love to connect with the sellers directly. Just to chat with them, you know?”

“Um, ma’am, you know I can’t do that.”

“Look, we know it’s competitive. We’ve been at this for months, trying to get into the Valley. And we’re willing to make a… generous… offer. Right, handsome?

Handsome’s mouth twitched. But he nodded.

Fifi stepped onto the terrace. She’d been showing the house nonstop since it hit the market two days prior. She’d practically spent the night there. She knew every feature and flaw, every bedroom and branch. And that branch was sitting low. Too low.

“Did you hear me, Fifi? A generous offer. And we have room to go up, if needed.”

The branch bowed even lower. Fifi whirled around, turning her back to Redhead and Handsome, and sprinted towards the tree.

“Excuse me, Fifi. Where are you going? Did you hear me? We can go up. We can go up!”

“Get down!” Fifi screamed.

Three giant lizards leapt out from the cedar elm, each with their own ear-piercing screech. The first one spread its wings wide and knocked over the patio furniture, which tumbled into a flustered couple and knocked them off the deck and into the rose bushes. The other buyers screamed and pushed through the French doors back into the house with the second dragon clawing through the deck behind them.

Fifi dove forward into Redhead and Handsome and shoved their heads down before an immense wing swiped overhead.

“Get to the alley!” She commanded, then tuck-and-rolled onto the lawn. She instinctively reached to her side pocket, but there was no weapon, just her phone and some extra business cards. She clenched her fists and shoved the crumpled cards back into her pocket.

The steely scales of the first dragon’s wings smashed into the back windows, sending shattered glass spiraling into the family room and kitchen where the buyers shoved past each other towards the front door. Fifi growled, “I said, get to the alley!”

They weren’t listening.

Glass scattered across the white countertops like splintered ice. The second dragon burst through the back doors, crashed through the furniture and décor, and swung a scaly wing right through the vintage chandelier. The third dragon, the smallest, swooped through the family room like a bat, then into the parlor where it and got stuck in the rafters of the vaulted ceiling.

Fifi leapt from the lawn onto a trellis, dodged a blast of hot steam from the first dragon and twirled on top of it, finding a perfect spot situated just between its shoulder blades—the soft spot on its back where the scales gave way. She notched her feet into the dragon’s underarms and took hold of each wing. With a simultaneous kick of her feet and jerk of her arms, she deftly steered the unruly dragon to the ground. She swung over its neck and looked into its eyes.

But before she could calm it, she heard Redhead screaming from inside the house. She grunted and left the dragon, skipping over the toppled patio furniture and bounding into the kitchen. The young dragon inside was frantically waving its neck and spewing hot steam like a tea kettle. Fifi tried to reach Redhead, but the dragon’s tail swung in wild circles with the force of an Olympic hammer throw. Fifi jumped back to dodge it.

Redhead was backed into a corner, clutching her belly with one hand. She feebly held a broken piece of the chandelier in the other hand. Tears streamed down her face .

“Damnit, damnit!” Fifi timed the dragon’s tail just right, somersaulted over it, and landed awkwardly on her knees. Broken glass littered the floor and cut into her skin. Not the best day for a pencil skirt. Redhead screamed again.

“Damnit!” Fifi was almost there.

The steel beam reinforced roof let out a powerful squeal that shook the whole house, then it crumpled, tearing an opening to the sky. A massive dragon clawed through the exterior wall into the kitchen and sent bricks and drywall catapulting into the room.

“Rexa?” Fifi lifted her head long enough to catch sight of the full-grown dragon.

The desperate buyers hit the ground just as the pipes were ripped from the wall and showered them all in cold water.

“Damnit everyone, get down!”

The lizard plunged her giant head low and opened her mouth wide. Hot steam shot out first, then a smoky plume followed by massive flames. The fire roared through the air over the heads of the buyers and the two smaller dragons. The young dragons bowed their heads and backed away.

“Jo!”

Through the din, Fifi heard a man’s voice. It was coming from the backyard. She rushed over and saw that the first dragon was peaceably subdued, munching on the rose bushes and reclining on the lawn like a neighborhood cat. The man jogged into the house past the hysterical buyers.

“Micah! What on earth? How are you—? And how did and Rexa—”

“Jo!” The man went in for an embrace but Fifi dodged him as deftly as she had dodged the dragon.

She hopped up onto the remains of a sofa and cupped her hands around her mouth. “Everyone OK?”

But few people were there to answer. The panicked buyers had gathered their things and stumbled through the once-cavernous parlor (which was now just an open-air courtyard), out the crumbling remains of the front door, and down the lawn to their Bentleys and Teslas.

Redhead sobbed, still holding the jagged chandelier piece, and waved it at Fifi. “You call this magical?”

“I’m so sorry about this, ma’am. Are you alright?”

Handsome reached his wife’s side, huffing and puffing, and ushered her out onto the front lawn with the others. Redhead screamed manically on her way to the street. “We only want the best, you know. The-the very best!”

Fifi winced, but breathed a sigh of relief. At least they’re all OK. I’ve seen worse.

“Where are they going?” Micah leaned a shoulder against what once was a very nice doorframe. He was the kind of guy whose age was hard to guess. He had the confidence of someone in their 30s, but the apathetic swagger of someone in their 20s. Or maybe it was the other way around. He looked like the kind of guy who would buy the bar a round of drinks.

Fifi climbed down from the scrap sofa and pulled a business card out from her pocket. She tossed it on the torn-up cherry hardwood floors. “Probably the Woodlands.”

He chuckled and the two faced each other for the first time.

“So, no to the hug. Fine, I deserve that. But how about a ‘thank you, Micah?’”

Fifi raised an eyebrow. She didn’t need to ask.

“For saving your behind! And all your buyers!”

“You did squat! Rexa did the saving.” Fifi picked her way through the rubble to the majestic dragon whose giant head rested on the once-sparkling white countertops. Rexa lapped at the busted faucet as it gushed water onto the remains of the steel beam reinforced roof.

“Hey, girl.” Fifi gave the ink black scales a soft caress. “How did this goof convince you to leave the house? We’re bonded. You and I.”

Rexa’s tongue lapped the water and she gave an innocent smile. Fifi looked deep into the dragon’s eyes and the air around them slowly stopped buzzing. A few final pieces of debris fell, then quieted. Fifi heard one of the neighborhood dogs barking down the street.

Micah tentatively took a step towards the bonded pair. “Jo?”

“No one calls me that anymore.”

“Fifi, then. Jose-fiiiiina.” He drew the sound out playfully and thumped his thumb down the plates that ran along Rexa’s spine. “I’m guessing you lost the sale?”

Josefina tried not to smile.

“You didn’t tell them who you were, did you? What was it this time—the contentious objector speech? A medical excuse?”

“Born too early for a second nature.”

“Ah, that one. Well, with moves like what I just saw, the cat’s out of the bag now. I haven’t seen you move like that in years, Jo! No one—not even that crowd—will believe you’re an untrained civilian.”

“I’m just a realtor.”

“Ms. Josefina Sauer, SRES.” He snatched the business card from the floor, uncrumpled it, and smoothed it out on Rexa’s back. “You’ll always be Jo to me.”

“No, you’re not allowed to say that. I’m not always going to be anything to you, Micah.”

Micah looked at his shoes.

Josefina tapped Rexa on the head twice and the dragon lifted up through the tear in the roof. She hopped over the house to the backyard where the three young dragons were lounging.

Josefina stomped to a closet and pulled out a slender electric vacuum and box of garbage bags, then began pointlessly cleaning up massive hunks of house. Micah kept looking at his shoes.

Finally, Josefina sighed. “Where the hell have you been?”

“I just came from the rec center.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“The neighborhood association met there today. Maxwell told me you’re not on the council anymore. When did that happen?”

“It’s too political. Everything is too political. I don’t have a place in all this anymore.”

“The famous Jo Sauer. Of course you have a place in all this.” He nodded to Rexa. “Outsiders still think the OG bond was a boy, you know.”

Again, Josefina tried not to smile. This was serious. And this was just like Micah to show up with a grin and some chaos and assume the pieces would fall into place for him.

“This senate bill is picking up speed, Micah. It goes to the governor next week. If Wessler signs it, there’s nothing the city can do. The Valley is going to go the way of St Louis. You heard about Crevecoeur?”

“This isn’t going to be like Crevecoeur.”

“Did you see those unbondeds?” She gestured to the three young dragons in the back. They had their fill of the rose bushes and began gnawing on a teak patio chair. “No one can control them! Their second natures are gone and they’re wreaking havoc.”

“Yeah, I see them. They’re a menace. And Wessler knows it. So what?”

“Don’t be an idiot. Wessler created them. Who do you think paid off those families? Got them to skip town and take their kids with them? Got them to leave their dragons unbonded?”

Micah looked down to his shoes again. He was starting to get used to the view. “I’ve heard the theory.”

“It’s the same old story that we’ve seen before. Ad nauseam. There’s a new power in the world. A magical one. And the powers that be can’t control it, so they want it gone.” She shuddered and steeped closer to Rexa, who cocked her head. The dragon was hovering one hulking wing over the three unbonded younglings.

“Well it’s a pretty tired trope, if you ask me.”

“That’s today’s world, the world we live in.” Josefina lay a hand on Rexa’s wings. “And if someone wants to fight it, they have to fight with politics. And that someone’s just not me. I don’t know how to fight this.”

Micah fidgeted with Josefina’s business card, folding it in half, then in half again. “I’m telling you, Jo. The Valley isn’t going to be like Crevecoeur.”

Josefina caught her breath. I should have seen this coming. “You’re involved in something, aren’t you?”

Again, Micah’s eyes went to his shoes.

“You’re involved in something. And you want me in.”

“Of course I want you,” he responded more quickly than he meant to.

“So, you went to the neighborhood association. Then to Rexa. Should I be offended that I was third in line after your return home?”

“You know I came back for you.”

Josefina bit her lip and wished he would stop looking at his damn shoes. Micah, every house I show—it’s supposed to be our house. Every couple I meet, every woman who’s— She caught her breath. But they wouldn’t go there. They never did. Evasion, then.

Josefina filled a trash bag with drywall then swished a broom across the top of the counter, sweeping pebbles of sparkling glass onto the floor. She looked up and caught Micah’s eyes, face to face.

He took hold of the broom. “You don’t really want to be a realtor, do you?”

“Hell no.”

“So you don’t mind if I…” He tossed the folded up business card into the air. Rexa knew this game. She perked up like a puppy and let out a tiny flame, incinerating the card in midair. The young dragons looked impressed. And this time, Josefina couldn’t help but smile.

Jo turned her head to watch the ashy pieces of her business card float through the air and come to rest on the wrecked frame of the cedar elm tree. The pieces fell like snowflakes, but they didn’t sparkle. Through the broken branches, the setting sun’s rays burned bright orange and red. She shaded her eyes from it. Natural light.