Jie awoke to the scent of roasted meat. Her stomach growled. Her body felt like a wrung-out dishrag and her bones ached.

She rubbed her eyes and sat up. It still felt unbelievable that she could do that now.

Ming sat coiled up like a snake, slowly turning a massive boar over a spit. "Evening, sleepyhead," he said, "you hungry?"

The flames licked the sizzling meat, and the mouthwatering aroma made Jie's tummy rumble again.

Ming chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes. Don't worry, it shouldn't be long now," he said.

He cooked it for a few more minutes before he sliced off a haunch with one of his claws and offered it to her.

Jie stared at the enormous haunch with wide eyes. It was bigger than she was!

"Oh... wait," Ming said. He cut it into smaller pieces and handed one of them to her.

It was still bigger than her head, but at least it looked like it wouldn't crush her beneath it.

She took it, juggling it slightly between her hands as it burned her fingers. The meat was crispy and slightly charred in places, but it smelled delicious. She hadn't had a proper meal for the last few years and her mouth watered.

"Well?" Ming asked, "What are you waiting for? Eat up. You'll have to train hard if we're going to get you strong enough in time. You'll need your strength."

Jie took a huge bite. As her teeth sank into the tender meat, the juices squirted out and filled her mouth with flavor.

She tore off a chunk like a savage beast and chewed it quickly before swallowing. Then she ripped off another mouthful... and another.... Until she'd devoured it all.

Ming handed her another chunk of glistening meat, and the process repeated itself until she lay back with her belly stuffed full of food and grease all over her hands and face.

She burped. "That was so good," she said.

Ming chuckled and picked up another haunch of meat bigger than she was. He opened his jaw wider than should be possible and bit down, engulfing the entire thing in one bite.

He pulled out a long strip of bone, with not a trace of meat remaining.

Then, he burped too.

Jie giggled.

The dragon paid her no mind and started picking his teeth with the enormous bone.

Jie patted her belly with one hand. "I think I have a food baby," she said with a giggle.

Ming froze. His makeshift toothpick dropped from his hand and clattered to the floor.

He turned to her, his eyes filled with horror.

"Is that how you reproduce in your world?" he whispered.

She burst out laughing. "You're silly," she said, "I just mean my tummy is so full!" She poked the bulge in her tummy from all the food for emphasis.

"Oh," Ming said with a heavy sigh of relief.

Jie laughed. "You didn't actually think that I--?"

"Ahem. Anyway, I'm impressed with your progress so far, but we should get you cleaned up a bit and then back to more cultivation for you," Ming said.

Jie covered her grin with one greasy hand.

He scowled at her. "You should clean up first, and I'll see if I have a change of clothes for you. Can't have you running around with your butt showing to the entire world," he said.

Ming showed Jie to a stream not far from the overgrown temple they were staying in.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The stream was small and the water was crisp and clear. It sparkled in the moonlight like a million glorious diamonds.

Was everything in this world so beautiful?

"I'll protect you while you bathe," Ming said.

"Protect me from what?" she asked.

"Look around you, kiddo," Ming said, "we're in the middle of a jungle. It's filled with magical beasts like those boars I brought back for us to eat. Any one of them would find you to be an easy snack. There could also be bandits, and unsavory sorts who would take advantage of a weak little girl."

Jie backed away from the stream and eyed the long shadows beneath the trees all around them.

"It's alright, kiddo," Ming said, "I said I'll protect you and I will. I'm still suffering from some injuries, but I doubt we'll find anything nearby that would force me to get serious. Wash up. I have a towel and some clothes for you."

She took a step forward, and then another. She stopped at the edge of the stream and froze.

"Um... Ming?" Jie said.

"Yeah, kiddo?" he asked.

"I... uh... need some privacy," she said.

"What for?" he asked.

"Well, I'm going to be bathing... I'll be naked," Jie said.

"So?" he asked.

"I don't want people seeing me naked," she said.

"That's just silly," Ming said, "but fine. I'll turn my back. Humans and their fascination with nudity. Humph! As if I have any interest in a little hatchling like yourself! How insulting."

Nevertheless, he turned his back.

Jie paused.

"Uh, Ming...?" she said.

Ming sighed. "What now?" he asked.

"I don't want anyone to see me, but I also don't want to get eaten," she said.

"Oh, don't worry about that. I can sense your aura and the aura of anything nearby. It would take something with enormous skill at hiding their aura to hide from me. I think we should be fine here. Even with my back turned, I can protect you," he said.

"Okay," she said.

This world was strange, and nothing in it made much sense, but she trusted the dragon. He'd done so much for her already. Her life had been in his hands before, and he'd taken care of her and watched out for her.

This time was no different.

She took off her hospital robe and tossed it aside. She never wanted to see it ever again.

She stuck one toe in the bubbling stream and squeaked.

"Jie? Is everything okay?" Ming asked.

"Yes!" she said, "The water's just colder than I expected."

Ming chuckled.

She slowly sank deeper into the stream. It came up to her chin when she was standing, and the water flowed all around her. It didn't feel quite so cold now that she was used to it, but it was still a little nippy.

Jie let out a sigh.

It'd been so long since she could bathe herself... and now here she was washing up in a beautiful stream of crystal clear water in the jungle of another planet.

She smiled. Life sure had changed a lot.

She submerged herself entirely in the water and marveled at the feeling of it on her face and her scalp... her hair drifted around her in the stream's gentle current.

When had her hair turned blue? She wondered.

She finished washing herself off and stepped out of the stream. Ming hovered in the air with his back to her. A pile of neatly folded clothes and a towel lay on a rock behind him.

The material felt like silk against her skin, and when she was dry, she put on the clothes.

Calling them clothes seemed like an understatement.

They were elegant, white robes with blue dragons embroidered on them. The detail was exquisite and the material, she was sure, was silk. Or at least something similar.

Was clothing like this common in this world?

Back on Earth, she would've expected to find this in an expensive shop... though the design looked archaic. Like something someone rich might've worn in ancient China.

"Do you like them?" Ming asked.

"Very much," Jie said, "where did you find them?"

"Oh, just something I was carrying around," Ming said.

"Carrying around?" Jie asked, "But you don't have anywhere to put anything."

Ming raised an eyebrow and held up his hand, showing off a collection of rings.

"I have these," he said, "and this..."

He waved his hand and a golden box appeared between two of his enormous fingers. It was about as tall and wide as the length of her pinky finger.

"What? But those are rings and that box is tiny. There's no way you could fit any of this stuff in there!" Jie said.

"Hmm... yes, I suppose you wouldn't have storage treasures in your world," Ming said.

"A storage treasure? What's that?" Jie asked.

"Storage treasures are items that can hold vast quantities of other items. Far more than their size would suggest. This..." he said as he gestured to the golden box, "is a storage treasure. As are many of my rings."

He flipped the lid of the box open and pulled out another pair of clothes in Jie's size.

"And you just happened to have clothes in my size?" Jie asked.

The dragon frowned slightly as though considering something.

"I suppose I do tend to hold onto items that come my way a bit more than I should. Sometimes I think I should clear out my storage treasures and organize things a bit better... but then I think about how they might be useful for something at some point. And it looks like I was right... in this case anyway," Ming said, "besides, it'd be wasteful to simply discard items and many of them aren't worth the hassle of selling them... or are things I wish to keep."

Jie eyed the dragon suspiciously.

"And just what else have you hoarded in your storage treasures?" Jie asked.

"Let's not concern ourselves with the mundanity of my many treasures and instead get back to cultivating!" Ming said as he put the other pair of clothes back in the box and snapped the lid shut.

Somehow, I should've known he'd be a hoarder. Typical dragon, Jie thought.

Though that thought made Jie wonder how storytellers on Earth knew such things about dragons.

Does that mean I'm not the first person from Earth to meet one? She wondered as they returned to the temple.