Iggy asked Alan about the book, and Alan brought it over to lend to him.
Iggy was enthralled by it, and spent weeks and weeks and weeks studying it and then studying various other books that seemed to be related to it. He got so involved he hardly ever seemed to have time for the rest of the dragons as he became completely absorbed in his studies.
The girls, on the other hand, had no luck attempting to talk to Idris, the ouroborus dragon who hung about biting the end of his own tail. He seemed to be completely content in his own little world and was exceedingly disinclined to interact with anyone or anything. Which, when I think about it, is very typical of him. I don't think I've ever actually caught him talking with anyone. Personally I think it's something to do with him being so fat. I'm sure he's twice as tubby as he should be, and he seems thoroughly content with his own company. Little Electra is much more slender and seems far more inclined to interact with things. Though just occasionally, when the light was right, it seemed to me that Idris wasn't just one dragon, but somehow two dragons who had become one, filling up all the available space. In which case maybe they were quite happy being a couple and didn't feel the need for anything more.
And whilst most of the dragons were busy playing and fixing things and inventing things, Rosa was, yet again, feeling a bit left out. She thought that maybe what she needed to do was to find something that would interest all of them and get them all working together again. But she wasn't quite sure what.
And then somebody pushed a leaflet under the front door, which changed everything...
Rosa looked at the leaflet and saw that it was advertising a local business selling lenses. And lenses are something to do with light. And that's what Iggy was studying. So maybe if she could buy one of those pretty lenses shown on the front of the leaflet, then maybe ALL the dragons could play with it and study together instead of splitting up and each doing different things.
So she took the leaflet and went to ask Austin if he would help...
"Austin, can we go and buy one of those pretty lenses for everyone to play with? I'm sure it would help with Iggy's studies..." she asked.
"Oh, I should think so. If they're not too expensive..."
Austin found an email address printed on the back of the leaflet and asked Sr Espinhosa, aka Mr Prickly, if they could arrange a visit. And a few days later the two of them went off on a secret mission together to buy a pretty lens.
They'd arranged to meet up on a hill on the neighbouring mountain range, the star mountains, overlooking the city. Austin stayed in the car and let Rosa see if she could manage the transaction by herself, though he kept a close eye on the proceedings.
Before long, Mr Prickly arrived with a box of lenses for her to choose from.
Rosa eagerly looked through all the lenses in the box, but none of them looked quite like the one she'd seen on the image on the front of the leaflet.
"Do you have big ones, with a handle, like the one in the picture?" she asked.
"Oh, you want a magnifying glass. I'll get young Ben to bring one over for you."
"O Abençoado – anda cá!" Mr Prickly called, and a young, very shy hedgehog poked his nose out from behind a bush.
"E traga uma lupa!"
Young Ben rummaged around for a moment and found a lovely old-fashioned magnifying glass, took a deep breath, and bravely approached Rosa. He was actually rather fascinated by dragons and was very excited to get to meet one in real life. But then he realised he didn't know what language they spoke. He could speak Portuguese, and Spanish, and Dutch, and Latin, and Hebrew. And a bit of French and English too. And Hedgehog, of course. But which one should he use? He figured that maybe dragons were magical and could understand any language, so he tried Hedgehog first because it was his mother tongue. But it came out sounding like a squeak to Rosa's ears.
Rosa loved the magnifying glass - it was exactly how she'd imagined it should be - and declared that she would take it.
Mr Prickly and Austin were busy sorting out the payment, and young Ben realised that little pink dragons speak English and was busily trying to remember all his vocabulary.
"Hello, Miss Dragon. My name is Ben. Prickly Ben!" he told her, rather nervously.
"Hello Ben. I'm Rosa!" Rosa replied.
"I didn't know dragons spoke English. I need to practice my English more. Father says it would be good for business."
"Oh, well you can come and visit if you like. We speak Portuguese too, and Welsh, but we can stick to English if you like so you can practice. Let's go and ask your dad!"
But Austin and Mr Prickly seemed to already know what was happening. Some money changed hands, Austin tucked a shiny new brass and leather mini-telescope into the glovebox, and Mr Prickly shouted to young Ben that if he wanted to go and visit the dragons then he needed to go and pack whatever he needed to take with him. Ben scurried back home as fast as he could to pack his favourite toys, and Austin gently reminded Rosa that not everyone was fond of hugs and cuddles and to make sure she respected young Ben's boundaries.
And so it was that young hedgehog by the name of
Abençoado Esphinhosa arrived, along with a very pretty magnifying glass and a bundle of toys, to see what he could learn.
Though in my experience, when someone wants to learn something from you, they very often end up teaching as much as they learn. That seems to be the nature of the way the world works...
