Dane stretched and began the twelve poses of The warrior's Healing. He calmly worked through the difficult positions, ignoring the cuts and bruises that covered his body. As one part of his brain worked his muscles, the other part wandered.
There was an odor in the air - a mixture of burned cloth and hair, blood and sweat.
"This smell," he thought, "where have I smelled it before?"
And then a memory hit him, causing him to lose concentration and miss the jump-flip from Warrior in Forcefull Repose to Warrior Perched on Fingers. Instead of falling, he gracefully rolled, accidentally kicking the the broom out of it's corner. It flew out and hit Heflam on the forehead. Dane apologized sincerely, replaced the broom to it's corner, and returned to his exercise. The curses coming from Heflam's side of the room was another reminder not to lose concentration.
After a few minutes, the odor-triggered memory returned. He smelled the same now as he did when he inadvertantly led the dragon back to his village and it was burned to the ground.
"That gods-damned gypsy curse again." He muttered.
As Dane completed his last position - Warrior Nose - he saw the dragonet fly in the window with a small lump of charcoal. He eyed it and muttered, "Gods-damned dragons."
The small creature eyed him as if it were a bird with a full stomach looking at prey, and shot a small puff of smoke in Dane's direction.
Dane glanced and Heflam and said, "Sorry about the broom. It's in an awkward place, isn't it?"
Heflam gently rubbed the lump on his forehead, eyed the broom wedged into the corner and then scowled at Dane. "Did you say something about a gypsy curse?"
"Uh... no..." said Dane, "I said 'lovely purse'. Your handbag is light blue with flowers, just like your blouse."
Bombor guffawed, shook his head and said, "Poofters."
Dane covered his sudden nervousness with a smile and the question, "I wonder what Gepetto is doing up there?"
