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.All the younger lithards backed away to stand watching us.Theireyes were saucer-wide and, among the very young ones, a little frightened.Ina matter of seconds all the excited activity of the pool had died down and alllithard eyes were upon us.Only the matrons politely turned their backs on mynakedness.'What's wrong?' I questioned Oth-Neth.'Is something.''Very rarely,' he answered, 'do mathterth bathe.in lithard pool.''Is it taboo, then?' I asked.As a stranger in Elysia I hardly wished to goagainst the grain.'Not taboo, but'You mean the masters frown upon it?''Not mathterth.lithardth!''But you didn't mention this be - ''For you,' he cut me off, 'ith different.' Then he lifted up his voice andboomed deafeningly across the pool what must have been some sort ofexplanation of my presence.I caught only the name 'Tiania' in all he said.Bythe time the echoes of that dragon-cry had died away, however, the play was onagain in full swing, and some of the younger lithards splashed over to us as Islid from Oth-Neth's saddle into the blue crystal waters.One of these young ones, big as myself, covered with a soft velvet leather thecolor of marble, kept pace with me as 1 slipped easily into the motions of apowerful crawl.Closer he came, eyeing me intently, then he dived down beneathme to lift me up bodily sprawled across his neck.High out of the water hetossed me, letting me fall back with a splash.Indignant, I rose to thesurface, only to find the bawling infant undergoing a thorough booming tiradefrom a vast and blotchy matron.'No, no!' I cried at once.'He was only having fun.' Oth-Neth, paddling overlike some gorgeously paintedLoch Ness monster, translated loudly.From out near the center of the poolthere came a noisy and concerted booming from an audience of more maturelithards.'They approve of you.Tituth Crow!' Oth-Neth informed me.'Now you bathe.I go.fetch robes.' Without another word he sank down into deeper waters,to emerge a moment or two later in a breathtaking fountain of spray.His greatwings unfolded in the air and he was off, lifting ponderously at first, thenmore certainly, finally climbing to the sky and disappearing in tufted cloudsand rosy sunlight.So there I was, left alone for the duration to the tender mercies of thestrange lithards, and never could I have imagined that to bathe in a pool ofdragons might be such wonderful sport! No sooner had Oth-Neth taken hisdeparture than a pair of young beasts came to me from the middle of the lake,hoisting me up out of the water and bearing me bodily to where a host of adultmales and females splashed and cavorted.I became the ball in a game of catch,but such was the gentleness of the friendly lithards that I received not eventhe smallest bruise.Then, tiring of hurling me through the air one to another, they formed afloating bridge of arched necks along which I ran, while one of them splashedand boomed after me in the water, trying to dislodge me from each successivescaly perch.Finally slipping from a great neck, I swam to the bottom of thepool, staying there for many minutes to study the decorative beds offreshwater oysters with their huge black pearls.As I rose in a slow spiral tothe surface, two young adults grabbed me.They were males, booming in turnwhat were obviously questions, in answer to which I could only shake my head.A pity that all the lithards were not versed, like Oth-Neth, in English.Thenone of the lithards thrust his head beneath thesurface of the lake, whipping it out an instant later to display bulging eyesand panting, lolling tongue.He repeated this performance, but on the secondoccasion when he withdrew his head he plainly suffered no discomfort whatever.The whole thing had been a mime and now I knew the creature's meaning: he hadasked me whether or not I found any difficulty in staying under water for longperiods.In answer I allowed myself to sink slowly down into crystal depths,tickling scaly legs and staying down until my two new friends came after me.For this was one of the benefits of having a custom-built body, as it were.Ineeded lungs only for talking, and who wants to talk under water?Plainly the two young lithards wanted me to follow them when they set off downtoward the deepest part of the lake, their great rear legs sending themspeeding into silent fathoms.Then, when they noticed how far behind they wereleaving me - their speed was quite phenomenal - they circled back to grab mewith their small forelegs and carry me effortlessly along between them.Downwe went, down to depths I had not suspected, and in through a sunken portalwhose interior was lit with a mother-of-pearl radiance.This glowing lightapparently sprang from shoals of tiny organisms that swam in that entryway,luminous clouds that parted like opening curtains to allow us access to themysteries beyond.Deeper still we swam, through waters strangely warm and growing warmer, untilsuddenly the narrow neck of the channel opened into a great cave.There wesurfaced, emerging into air in a cavern whose domed ceiling, adorned withsparkling stalactites, covered an area of what must have been at least anacre.Globes of artificial light hung near the ceiling, invisibly suspended inthe air, sending down a dappling of green and mauve rays to givethe place an appearance of soft contours and quiet, submarine shades.We emerged from the pool onto a wide shelf where rested several matrons whosetask, I soon saw, was the tending of hundreds of huge eggs - dragonspawn! Theeggs rested in rows in hollows all along the sandy shelf, each perfect ovalperhaps nine inches long and each one beautifully speckled in blue and gold.Under the watchful eyes of the matrons my lithard friends guided me down apath between the rows of eggs.Soon we stopped where the two dragons crouchedto admire a pair of gold-flecked ovals, their subdued and reverent boominghinting to me that they must be the respective fathers of thesehatch-lings-to-be.After a minute or two of what seemed to me rather proud andboastful booming together, nevertheless undertaken in lowered tones, myfriends indicated that it was time to go
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