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"Bladder as a water flask, maybe some bones that we can make into a weapon for you," Shoneah continued the list without thinking about it. "We might use some scales for creating some kind of armour, too, though they're not as strong as those of an adult dragon. If necessary we could use its bowels for rope, at least until we find something better."

She glanced at Eron. "Why don't you start building a fire," she suggested, "stuff it with some paper so that we can get it started more easily."

She turned back to the dragon. She had its chest cut open by now, and she reached in and pulled out its heart. As warm as the weather was, the heart steamed slightly in the open air.

Holding it in her two hands, she lowered her head and closed her eyes. "For your strength and your spirit, I thank you," she murmured in her native tongue; and then she bit into the heart and began to eat it.

Shoneah finished the heart relatively quickly, considering that it was a rather small one, and then she continued to work on the dragon, cutting out chunks of meat for cooking.

She glanced at Eron and watched him work at building the fire.

"Use one of my pistols," she told him. "Take the bullet out so you don't waste it, hold the pistol near the paper, and fire it a few times. It's flintlock, so it'll spark, hopefully enough to get the fire started."

She felt some warmth on the corner of her mouth, and she licked away some of the dragon's blood that had gotten there when she'd eaten its heart.

Shoneah watched him while she worked.

"Open the firing chamber and take out the bullet," she directed him. "Make sure you don't lose it, I've only got about a dozen and then that's it until I can make more, providing I can find the materials I need. Then close the chamber, pull back the hammer, and pull the trigger."

She felt better now that she had eaten the heart, not as hungry; and she worked faster and more easily at cutting up the dragon. There was enough meat to start cooking now, and she looked around for something to cook it on - large leafs, rocks, something that could go into the fire or be used to hang the meat over it.

"When you're ready, please reload my pistol before you put it back in my holster," she requested, her eyes on the dragon as she continued to work. She pulled out the bladder and set it aside, then the bowels, setting them aside as well.

Suddenly she realized they had the perfect way to cook the meat. They would have to do just a few pieces at a time, but they could skewer the meat with her sword and use that to hold it over the fire. She didn't like the idea, since it meant she would have to rely on her pistols for defense if anything else showed up, but it was their only real option.

"How much room do you have in that case of yours?" she asked, looking back at Eron again.

"Textbooks?" Shoneah repeated curiously, unsheathing her sword. She cut some of the meat into small strips, then skewered them with her sword and headed over to the fire.

There, she sat next to Eron and looked at him as she held the meat over the fire. "What are textbooks?" she asked him. "Are they something that will help us survive until we can find help?"

Shoneah nodded slowly. "All right ..."

She eyed the remainder of the dragon that was still lying where she'd left it. "Before we go we should cure the rest of the meat and put it in your case. We have no idea what other wildlife there is here or when we'll find something else to eat."

She sighed. "And we need to think seriously about finding something to drink. It's been hours for both of us. We won't last more than a day without something."

Shoneah thought about it, and her upper lip curled slightly in distaste. Not at the thought of drinking blood - hadn't she just eaten a heart? But at the implications of it.

"Blood is salty, so we can't rely on it for long," she mused. "Still, it should be enough to keep us until we can find real water. But until we get this bladder rinsed out, we have nothing to carry it in, so we have to make sure to drink it before we go anywhere."

She glanced at the dragon's body again, then turned back to Eron. "Here, why don't you roast this, and I'll finish up with the rest of the dragon," she suggested.

While Eron roasted the meat, Shoneah finished taking care of the dragon, sorting what they could use from what they needed and what was useless to them.

"Get a drink while you can," she called to Eron when she was finished. "It'll be gone soon."