“'Truth in all things,'” she quoted me as she rolled her eyes. “Is that it?” she asked with a sigh.

I nodded.

“As you like then, Sir Dragon,” she agreed, eyes sparkling with fresh mischief. “As I do as a rule, but not an exclusive one as there has been at least one exception, however minor, but an exception none the less, I heed your words as I do almost always.”

Truth be told I'd have been more offended at her sass if I hadn't been so busy being impressed that she had strung that sentence together in the first place, said it all in one breath, and that she had managed to keep the giggle out of her voice as she did so.

“Are you done?” I asked in a fine display of dignity refusing to be wounded.

Now she giggled. “Yes, I believe I am,” she said merrily, then promptly changed the subject as children are wont to do. “Do you want to see my grandmother with me?”

“No,” I intoned.

“Okay!” she chirped, clearly unsurprised at my answer. “Then I should go now so I don't have to hurry quite so much to not be late. Grandmother is waiting for me, and she doesn't have as much time as I do.”

Provided she lived long enough, the girl's instinctive insights would serve her well someday, but for the moment I deemed it best to not point out just how much truth she innocently spoke with those words. “On your way then,” I huffed, but she was already skipping away from me well before I had finished.

I watched in silence as she departed, then allowed myself to fade back into the obscurity of the forest, wondering as I did so just how well this day's lesson would hold with her.

As it turned out, the answer was “fairly well.”

Seven years went by before she saw me again.

*****

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