Claws of the Crocodile (Fem! reader)

Chapter 4

There was no coach terminal in Broome. The greyhound simply drew up outside the tourist information centre on the edge of town. Brihony was waiting, but when y/n staggered off the coach, she managed to look right through her. She had noticed the girl with the shoulder length aiburn hair, but had turned away because she was still expecting to see a little kid.

But then she looked again. The girl had her hands on her hips and was tapping a foot. She craned her neck as she studied each passenger in turn, dismissing those who werent y/n with an inpatient shake of the head.

Then she noticed that she was looking at her, and she saw the realization dawn. She had been doing the same as her looking for someone much younger.

'Y/n.....?'

'Brihony......?'

And then they laughed, it just felt right to give eachother a hug. Brihonys mother was waiting at the back of the crowd. Y/n didn't have any difficulty recognizing her, though she could have sworn she was taller when she last saw her.

Dr Mia Stewart was like an older, more weathered version if Brihony. The hair was shorter and turnih grey. The eyes and the smile were vert similar.
'Glad you could come, y/n. Welcome to Broome!'

'Thanks,' She said with feeling. She was mighty glad to have arrived y/n had always found that the only thing she disliked about travelling was, well, the travelling.

There had been more stops along they way, but fortunately they hadn't met any more angry kangaroos. Every time they stopped she felt a little stiffer and her arms and legs took more persuading to get moving again.

And the last twelve hours had been spent in darkness as the coach drove through the night, so there was no landscape to look at just her own reflection in the window.

She had tried to sleep, but succeeded only briefly.
' The cars this way,' Dr Stewart told her.
The car was a station wagon parked by the kerb. Y/n there her bag in the back. Dr Stewart swung the door closed and he smiled at the sticker on the window.

Next to the remains of a tent, a cartoon crocodile with a napkin around its neck was licking its lips. A couple of stock men were fleeing into the distance. Bright letters below the pictures announced:

Don't sass a saltie. Under that the words were:
Saltwater crocodile conservation club.

Dr Stewart saw y/n looking at it and laughed.
'Brihonys really getting into crocodile conservation.'
'Yeah, well,' Brihony said casually. 'They've been here for millions of years, and I know all about respecting ancient, scaly people i mean, animals.'

Her mother pretended to clip her ear, and they got into the car. Y/n sat in the back with brihony as they drove down the long, wide streets. Y/n had the feeling that the town had just been plonked there, on a peninsula between the Indian ocean on one side and Roebuck bay on the other.

A very thin layer of civilization luad down over a continent that barely noticed it. If you dug down a couple of centimetres, you would find native Australia again.

'Did you have a good trip, y/n?' Brihonys mother asked.
'I did, thanks, yes, Dr Stewart,' She said politely. It felt a little awkward to call her that, but she knew she was an expert on austrailain wildlide, and if someone has earned the right to be called 'Docter', it's usually best to stick with it.

'Oh, please call me Mia!' She laughed. 'I think you're old enough. Ever been to Broome before?'

'No, never.' When she'd visited with her parents, they had stayed with the Jungun they hadn't got as far as Broome. Y/n looked from mother to daughter and wondered whether it was possible that she or her dad had mentioned Jim Rockslide last time.

Did the Stewarts know about him? If so, then mabye this was simply a sully joke and no mystery at all. And so she watched carefully for any kind of rea tion as she added:

'I had a friend who told me all about it, though. Jim Rockslide.'

Neither of them looked like she had just spoiled their game. Mia was politely interested, but had clearly never heard of him.

Brihony just laughed. 'Good name.'
'Does Jim live here?' Her mother asked.
'No, and I've not seen him for years.'
'Thats a shame.' No, y/n decided, neither Mia nor Brihony knew anything about Jim.

'Anyway, I'll take you home now you can get a shower, have some breakfast, and then we'll show you Broome.'
'Thanks,' She said earnestly. ' Id really like to see it.'

The message had said follow the white dragon. If she went about asking people about white dragons, then she would probably be locked up. Or she could try to find it for herself, and that ment having to look around.

'Youre just in time for the festival,' Brihony added.
'What festivals that?'
'Shinju Matsuri. It's a really big thing round here. It'll be great.'

A few hours later, y/n was bristling with impatience. She had come to broome to find Jim Rockslide, not go to the museum walk on the beach or even surf in the Indian ocean all those things were fun, but none of them helped her with her mission.

There was no sign of a white dragon anywhere, and she didn't really want to ask if anyone had seen such a thing. But she started to feel exited again as they strolled towards broome s Chinatown for the start of the big parade.

Mia had dropped them off, arranging to pick them up an hour later. They heard music around them. Crowds gathered, laughing and chattering. It was impossible to feel uninspired when so many people were just having a good time.

'Shinju Matsuri means festival of the pearl"', Brihony exclaimed. She had to raise her voice to be heard. 'It celebrates all the different cultures that have come together in this town.'

'It sounds japanese,' y/n said.
' It is, there was a big pearl fishing industry here, which was started by Japanese divers. But it celebrates all the cultures. Like Chinese see?'

She pointed, and y/n's eyes went wide. Above the heads of the crowd lining the street she saw a dancing dragon. It wasn't white. It was red and gold and green, and held up by a dozen people.

The head had a pair of flashing eyes, and gaping jaws. The body was long, winding from side to side like a snake. Y/n had seen this kind of thing at festivals before.

The dragon danced and swayed up to the music, and she felt herself being caught up in the rythem. After the dragon came floats and a narcging band, then mre floats and another dragon. Brihony was telling her more about the festival: how there would be a carnival of the sea on Cable Beach, and a dragon boat regatta out on the bay, and and something about stairs going up to the moon...

But suddenly she was no longer listening. Not to her; not it the music; not to the noise of the travelling crowd. Following the parade she'd seen another dragon.

This one was smaller and much less gaudy than the ones that had gone before. It had all the usual tassels and decorations but they weren't coloured. There were no golds, no reds, no yellows, no blacks.
Everthing was just white.

Finally im done i like describing the dragon in this chapter so I decided to do a little different of the colour scheme