Those Odd Things One Finds Along The Way

[ShenLung]

Aside from an odd haiku or so, I have not posted in a while .. the duties of a dragon are as they are.  Naturally, I am no Dragon, but a tamer of dragons, and those duties have kept me otherwise occupied.  I had lost myself in one particular role, and forgotten that I had others to play.  Today, while I was about aiding one lost soul and planning another rescue via the aid of one the Age's mighty warriors, I found myself distracted, by a loose rail, along a steep cliff, just behind one of those ubiquitous convenience stores that dot the landscape.  I noted the hazard, for a drunk stumbling his way along after making an evening purchase at the establishment would be sure to find an unhappy fate, if the problem was not addressed.  After assuring that the attention of the responsible party was called, I made my way down to the bottom of the cliff - the other errand involved awaiting a tow truck, and I wanted to observe the workings of nature in this small oasis that I had spied from atop the escarpment:  A small pocket of unkept woods, with a little creek running through it.  Though the path down was quite steep, my feet remained as sure as ever.  I was surprised to see that, though the skies had let no water fall for several days, there was still some flow within the creek.  I sat beside a small pool there, and waited to see who would show up.  I saw a few crayfish emerge from their rocks, and make their way across the sandy bottom, underneath dragonfly nymphs .. too many to count.  I saw no fish, and no snakes .. was there a relationship there?  I saw no frogs, either, but a few water boatmen skated across the surface, and damselflies, with their neon blue bodies paused to look on the scene with me  The ecosystem was small, without many complexities, and few resources .. but tucked away in a place that was too awkward for developers to use, it thrives.  I stood, and took in the qi of the place .. simple, innocent, but hardy and enduring.  As I had taken the path down, I wanted to climb back up off of it, and pick up some of the trash that I had seen on the way down - there was far more there than I could carry away, I hadn't brought a bag with me.  As I turned towards the path near the top, I saw a 'frog' beside the way .. and what had been attached to him.  There is a certain Dragon that has been causing much trouble about the garden, and we are attempting to transmute him to stone .. there is a risk involved, that those with eyes that see evil and lips that persecute their fellows may find those stones within their hearts.  Instruction in the way can be of aid to them.  The tow truck was paid for from the celestial treasury - or, rather, the driver felt no desire to charge for the service, but I like to embellish, just a tiny bit.  I took a few pictures of this keychain and fob, sans keys, that had been discarded there, beside the Way.