The Moon's Choice

ttle into any kind of reasonable pattern. Normally, I was good at dealing with things that could be broken down into causes and consequences. Today

om as though he were the one paying the rent and my return was an unwelcome in

question of who lives he

animal in need of rescuing. I brought him water, then tried to send him away. The next day, he came back. After my third attempt to explain that the apartment was already oc-cup

don't complain ab

ehow it looked less like gratit

nd when an insolent animal was lying in the next room, clearly of the opinion that your emotional crisis did not merit interrupting his evening. I made tea and st

arefully. My eyes looked perfectly normal. To ma

d it, or my supernatural abilit

opened

omeone else's home without permission, and now

pret that as an admission of guilt

he windows of the neighboring buildings. Somewhere a car passed, a door slammed, laughter drifted from an open window. Everything looked

I loo

had always loved moonlight. There was nothing mystical about it; a few quiet minutes were usually en

it didn

omewhere inside me straight toward the silver disk above the city. I tightened my hands around the cup. Moonlight lay across the wet rail-

gnit

elt as though I were t

n't eve

gh to restore at least some perspective

is front paws rested neatly side by side, his tail curled around them, and his head was lifted toward the wi

l me you f

turned t

y anything at all. If you an

l swaye

nderstand e

need to understand what was happening, and my last rational thought was tha

y eyes in the m

he motionless water hung an enormous moon-the same one I had been looking at from my balcony only a short while before. There were n

it, but for some r

siderably mo

ouldered, motionless. The mist blurred everything around him, yet somehow seemed unable to touch him; he remained too

his shoulders, his dark hair, the water surrounding his body, until I finally remembered t

are

tur

nd yet my heart struck hard as thoug

diately inviting in his face: defined features, a steady gaze, the restraint of a

g, to decide that the distance between us mattered. The cold water, the da

not li

e man himself appeare

ame,"

h, and so startlingly real that

s simpl

r with a riddle, I should warn you th

his eyes. "You don't

d much more produc-tively. So let's try this i

searching for something in me and no

e we

ttle longer than a si

ot lik

t. We've already failed the

an't explain

cond on

e reason, I wanted to see what his real smile looked like, an

and the water parted softly aro

o you are, so I'm perfectly co

for nothing or tell me I had no reason to be afraid. He simply stayed where I

't hur

ht in the middle of an unknown lake don't aut

but the severity left his face so unexpect

sible

lly a sensi

he silver mist. "I'm be

Are you making fun of

tain this is

othing else, and suddenly the w

I'm not certain. I s

. I'm not kee

ediately that he meant it. He truly was not keeping me. I could l

ot want to leave nearly

ore dangerous than

hen another. The mist

li

top

ot as a question, not merely to get my attention, but as

y. "How do you

d the chanc

, indignant sound broke the silence, and

! What i

leam of wet scales, then a slender tail and two wings. It scrambl

with an elongated muzzle, scales silve

ilver

gry sil

N

e a sound remark

tep on you

ion, that did absolute

e me without touching me, leaving enough space between us, yet I felt his warmth immediatel

," the man said. "Sh

er

es

, as though deciding to spare me any

owly. "That'

es

at as casually as if you'd j

sed to

ago

d his voice, and the cre

y thinks we're discussing he

she was simp-ly watching me closely, and there was

ed where I had see

h

windo

was imp

s she

dragon first, then at

ll isn't

one I have for

o you ever answer a

questions that are difficult t

try again. W

the mist, even the little dragon at my feet seemed to disappear. There was only the man looking at me as th

idn

er di

just a drag

beside my leg. There was no resentment left in

what i

d at her, the

r dr

was pounding, my palms were icy, and my body remembered the lake far too well: the cold around

sat in bed while the room sett

as a

d reasonable. Al

oice, the way he had said my name, the little dragon at my feet, and th

very strange dream. A very handsome man. A

fell in th

nt s

miliar dark figure appeared in the doorway. The cat entered the bed-

t he had broken this t

lv

same deep shade of silver that had been lo

ered my feet

Not t

jumped up with ef-fortless ease, and settled at

cattered oddities began to connect-not into an explana

rt of the dream, then perhaps none