The Dragon and the Lotus (Chimera #1) by Joseph Robert Lewis

down toward his nets, his fingers still dancing through their knots.
    “Oh. Just something I picked up when I was younger. It’s good for a lot of things, which is important in my line of work.”
    “Which is?”
    “Medicines.”
    “The Ayurveda?”
    It was Asha’s turn to smile. “Yes, among other things. You’ve studied?”
    “Me? No. No, I just listen. I listen to everyone, wherever I go. You learn to listen really well when you can’t see.”
    “I know a little something about listening,” she said. “A dragon bit me once because I didn’t listen when I should have.”
    “A dragon? Really?”
    “Oh, yes.” She touched the scaly skin of her right ear. “I also have a blind friend with me who knows how to listen pretty well. Maybe later you two can trade techniques and secrets for eavesdropping on me.”
    He smiled a little wider. “I’d be honored. So, are you on your way into town?”
    “No. Well, maybe later. In a few days. I thought I might stay here and explore the lake for a while to see what’s growing around here. There might be something I can use.” She glanced up at the fiery tips of a palash tree reaching out toward the lake above them. “And if not, then at least I can enjoy these trees and the water for a few days. We’ve been in the hills for ages, or so my feet are telling me.”
    Rama nodded. “Well, you’re welcome to stay here. There’s plenty of room. I live alone. And I don’t mind sleeping outside.”
    “Thank you. We’d be honored to be your guests. But please stay inside. I wouldn’t dream of…” She trailed off.
    “Of making a blind man sleep on the ground?” He shook his head. “It’s nothing, really. Although I suppose I’d rather not wake up outside, forget where I am, and begin walking the wrong way. It might be a very long time before I reach another lake and realize it’s not mine.”
    Asha laughed. “You think you could tell one lake from another?”
    “Of course,” Rama said with a mock seriousness. “This is my lake. My home. Everything I care about is here. My life is here, in these waters.”
    Asha nodded to herself. “Nisha said you used to live in the east before you came here and built this house.”
    “That’s right.” He carefully rolled up his nets and set them aside. “I was born in a very large village on the banks of a very large lake. I loved it there. There was more trouble than any boy has a right to get into in a place like that. Fishermen, merchants, foreigners, weavers, tinkers, farmers, herders, priests. And then the real fun, the water and the boats, the nets and fish and clams and frogs and birds. So much to see and do. So many people to push into the water.”
    Asha smiled. “Really? That’s what you did for fun?”
    “Well, we spent most of our time in the water anyway,” Rama said. “But we had to grow up eventually, and the village was becoming a town, bigger and noisier. And one day I looked around and realized it wasn’t home anymore. So when I heard about this place from a man selling pepper, we packed our things and came here.”
    “Just like that?”
    “Well, we didn’t have many things to pack.” He lifted his face toward her and smiled. It was a genuine smile, broad and beautiful. “Those were the best days.”
    Asha felt guilty for breaking the spell of that moment, the spell of his smile, but she had to ask the question. “What happened after that?”
    Rama’s smile contracted, his mouth tense, a faint wince around his lidded eyes. “My wife, Vina, died shortly after we arrived here.”
    “Nisha told me. I’m sorry.” She reached over to squeeze his hand.
    He didn’t seem to notice as he sat nodding slowly to himself. “These things happen.”
    “I know. But it doesn’t make it any easier.”
    “Have you ever lost someone?” he asked quietly.
    “I lost everyone,” she said. “When I came home from my training, my father was dead and my mother and brothers had left the city. I never