I waited too long to have Siss's gift for breakfast. "She" had already hatched, her tiny Simla dragon head was poking out of the egg nestled in my clothes when I opened my gear bag. Her little black eyes stared into mine, and then she extended her tongue and hissed dismissively at me.
'I'm going to take that as an introduction. You're Hissi. I'm Wil. How do you do?'
A yawn. and as I picked the egg up, she wiggled out and stretched herself along my arm, anchoring herself on my shirt sleeve with her tiny claws to dry her tiny, downy feathers. She closed her eyes and went to sleep.
The island was just as lonely as I feared it would be. I didn't even bother to watch the sky for dragons when I went out to sit and stare at the sky. The island was too deep in the endless sea for any living creature, other than the permanent inhabitants to live here - so I had little to fear, and no great reason to fear anything, if I had.
In the timelessness of the Pela, it is hard to say precisely how long I moped about, lost, very lonely, feeling very sorry for myself. I had initially toyed with the idea of chasing after her in the gig. The sky-sea is wide, but I had radar. In the end, I knew Cin well enough to know it wouldn't do. It was her choice, not mine. And I was feeling too sorry for myself, to lift a finger. I'd no sense of urgency to do anything or any reason to do it. Perhaps there was a thin vein of relief in my grief as well, not enough to notice, just enough to sap any desire for pursuit.
Eventually, I set to work reinstalling the steering rockets in the nose of the gig and making sure every system was working. When I was ready to sail, I hacked a hole through the vines to get the boat free and maneuvered it down to the savanna to give its new wings one last look over in full light.
I rather doubt Hissi is Siss's offspring since her coloring is quite different. Siss must have struck some sort of deal with one of her Temtre friends or simply stole the egg. In any event, I suspect that she very carefully selected - telepathically - and then telepathically briefed young Hissi in the egg to be a constant reminder of herself, which is to say, to be annoying. I've no idea how one tells one sex of a just hatched Simla dragon, but knowing Siss as well as I think I do, I rather doubt that she'd entrust this mission of annoying me to anything but another female, seeing how alike she and Cin are in their fierce pride.
It seems that Simla dragons grow pretty fast, so that by the time I had gotten the Phoenix ready to sail - say two weeks - Hissi had grown to be about half a meter long. I fed her pellets of food from the synth-galley for a little while, but she soon took to chasing beetles and butterflies, and seemed to grow without any further food subsidy. Simlas are pretty self-reliant, except when it comes to their feathers. But then, I found that I had few better things to do than to pet her soft baby feathers when she'd come and curl up on my lap. She'd also sleep on my chest, and I swear, would, after I fell asleep, creep up to my chin so that her tail could accidentally brush across my chin, which is one reason why I came to suspect Siss had briefed her while still in the egg. She also developed a trick of her own. When she got tired of chasing beetles, she'd come and drape herself over my shoulder, and then when she got bored with that, would nip my ear lobe for fun.
Though I was in no frantic hurry to get the gig into shape, I did spend most of the last dozen days I was on Dagger Island working. Controls had to be modified to control the motors that adjusted the rudder and wing flaps, and I had to learn how to fly the gig with them. I didn't stray far from Dagger Island while I put the Phoenix through its paces. I also had to build up a supply of fuel - water - by running foliage through the synth-galley converter since I didn't know how far I would have to go, or how many islands I would encounter where I could refuel, so I printed out a few extra fuel tanks. But at last the day came when everything seemed in order. I had to put the island and its bitter-sweet memories astern, and sail towards the rest of my life.
The Phoenix was floating in the gentle air currents, a kilometer off of Dagger Island - which from the air did look like a dagger. I was standing on its upper hull with a safety line attached, just to be safe, and was looking about the brassy blue-green sky to locate the brightest spot in it. My journey to the inner outer space, and hopefully on to the Unity and a high green peak overlooking the Belbanian blue seas, would start with turning the nose of the gig directly away from the hidden Tenth Star and heading out beyond the frozen islands.
'Right,' I said to Hissi. 'Let's go below and see what this rocket can do. We've got a mission and its high time we get it lifted. I've been feeling sorry for myself for too long.'
I climbed back down, closed the hatch, and headed back to the control room and fired up the control panel and view screens. Hissi settled herself on my shoulder. I fired up the rockets and felt the little thrust of inertia push me back slightly into my chair. I grasped the rudder and wing levers to set our course, brushing Hissi tail out of my face.