K Halbrook - Silver Batal and the Water Dragon Races

“There is a great hero coming tomorrow,” her father said suddenly.

She froze. Other than Brajon and Nebekker, no one knew Silver idolized Sagittaria Wonder. It was safer to keep the racer to herself. Writing fan letters was one thing. But having a hero who wasn’t Rami Batal? That felt wrong, somehow.

But then, her father had said a hero, not her hero.

“Keep walking, Silver. You must come out of your dreamworld and pay more attention to the present.” Up ahead, Rami drew his arm wide. “Look at these beautiful lands. An ancient city full of our family’s great history, the valley to the north to raise food and wool, an underground river that swells with rushing water in the spring, and all the raw materials a craftsman like me could hope for. Old lore says this land was touched by ancient goddesses. They buried all their treasures under our sand for us to find, bit by bit. My daughter, we have everything we need here.”

Her father took her fingers in his. “Even Queen Imea wants to come see our riches. She arrives tomorrow. And with her, the great water dragon racer, Sagittaria Wonder. I have been working on a secret project to impress her. A racing cup for the spring festival.”

Silver worried her father would notice that her palms were sweating.

Her father went on. “First this cup, and then my masterpiece for the queen. It has been my life’s work to return glory to my family, and it comes to this moment. For all of us … For you and your future.”

“I know,” Silver said miserably.

Rami let go of her fingers and continued walking. “I want you to share the moment with me. Let’s show the world we are Batals! I want you to add your own special touch to the racing cup.”

Silver tried to swallow, but it felt like sand was coating her throat. Her father’s smile was wide, though his eyes were cautious. They both knew this was a big step for her … and they both knew she could mess it up.

They reached the Batal family workshop. Silver took in a breath of familiar air. She’d grown up in this space: She crawled on the floor covered with thick, colorful rugs; played with her father’s jeweler’s instruments like they were toys; even took meals in the workshop, sitting on her mother’s lap while her father worked late into the night.

Rami Batal led Silver to a table at the back of the workshop, on top of which sat a tall cloth-covered project. Her father pulled the fabric away.

“Here it is. My design for the Island Nations Spring Festival cup.”

Silver gasped and felt her chest swell with pride at her father’s work. The gold-and-gemstone cup gleamed with a rainbow of marvels and meticulous metalwork. The Island Nations supplied the cup for the Desert Nations Autumn Festival qualifying races, and the desert royals returned the favor for the Spring Festival final, where the biggest race of the year crowned the world’s grand champion. For jewelers, there was no greater honor than having their handiwork selected to represent their homeland.

But even as Silver admired the cup, she didn’t see how she could ever enhance its beauty.

Her father beamed and turned the cup so the back—polished gently to reveal all the setting-sun colors of the gold—faced them.

“See here along the bottom? I saved that spot for a very special person. I know you’ve been working on hammering metal in class. I want you to design a simple pattern here. Perhaps something that would put the viewer in mind of our desert dunes.” Rami faced his daughter. “Silver, I want us to present this cup to Queen Imea and Sagittaria Wonder together.”

Silver swallowed, hard, and blinked rapidly. She longed to tell her father about her dreams to be a water dragon racer—to bring a new kind of glory to the Batal family. Her chin tipped up and her chest pressed forward and her mouth opened, and the whole workshop began to spin with dizzying light and color and sparkle, but …

No words came out.

Silver simply couldn’t tell her father the truth. Not when he looked at her like that: like she was his ele-jeweler.

Silver cleared her throat. “I’ll try.”

Her father gathered materials, then stoked the fire in the depths of the workshop. Rami gave Silver an encouraging smile before brushing through the curtain that separated the workshop from the showroom.

She sighed and warmed the gold around the bottom of the cup, then began. Hammering was a detailed task, but as her clank, clanks sounded through the workshop, her thoughts drifted.

Who would want boring dunes on a winner’s cup? Silver knew a better option was something that captured the beauty and the power of a water dragon. She closed her eyes and pictured the only real dragon she’d ever seen. It was seven years ago when she’d snuck into a trader’s wagon, lured by a gentle and sweet snore.

There, tucked in a wooden cage at the front, was a small sleeping creature, its tail coiled twice around its body. When Silver knocked over a bottle, the little orange dragon’s eyes popped open. They were the dazzling blue of sapphires. The dragon yawned but didn’t uncurl. It tucked its face deeper into its tail, gazing at Silver the whole time, but the corners of its eyes crinkled, and Silver smiled back. When a giggle escaped from her, the trader called a Hello? from outside the wagon. Silver rolled beneath the fabric cover and out the side, then ran for home.

Now, she pulled herself out of her memories and groaned at her work. Uneven dings and dents littered the formerly smooth surface halfway up the sides. She sighed and pushed the ruined part of the cup close to the heat with a pair of long tongs, to soften the metal again.

She’d loved meeting that little dragon on that day so long ago. She wondered what had happ—

She screamed and yanked her hands back. Searing pain ripped through her forearm, and she clenched her teeth as she cradled her wrist to her chest. The cup clanked to the ground.

“Silver!” her father shouted, rushing back into the workshop. “What happened?”

The pain was excruciating, but Silver pushed it down. “The fire popped and caught me,” she said.

She tucked her arm behind her back so he couldn’t see how badly she was burned. “It’s nothing. I’m sorry—I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Are you sure?” Rami Batal frowned, but as he reached for her arm, he caught sight of the cup on the floor. He bent down and slowly picked it up. Silver’s heart sank as she saw the large dent in its side.

“Silver, what have you done? I give you an opportunity to be a part of my proudest moment, and this is what you offer? You can’t even focus for one minute, daydreaming all day about … about … water dragons .” His voice shook, and for a moment, he raised the cup as though he were going to throw it against the workshop wall, but instead he lowered it.

Silver opened her mouth to apologize, but Rami held up his hand and shook his head.

“Enough.” Her father wiped his palm across his forehead. “Silver, I need you out of the workshop if I’m to fix your mistake in time.”

Silver’s eyes filled with tears as her father led her out by the arm, her burn throbbing with the beat of a Jaspaton festival drum.

Not even the breezes of late afternoon swirling lazily through Jaspaton could cool Silver’s flushed face as her father took her up two flights of stairs toward the yarnsladies’ tents.

When Silver realized where they were going, part of her flashed with relief. The other part of her flared with an emotion she didn’t quite understand. Why couldn’t her father see what everyone, even Gama, could see? Silver had no talent for metals or jewels, no matter how much Rami wanted her to.