Thousand: Seven Hundred Twenty-Seven

luck. Probabilities. Even if you have a ninety percent chance of success, when you jump the canyon, one time in ten you fall in. That makes subsequent jumps problematic.” “Are you offering to be my teacher?” “When the pupil is ready, the teacher will come,” the dragon says, holding up a claw. Impaled on the claw, the girl sees, is one of the dried ticks. “No,” she says. “Then never mind,” the dragon says, tucking the tick back into the fold of its ear. The dragon lays its head on the floor, tucks forefeet under chin, and closes its eyes.