Tehanu (Earthsea Cycle, #4)

by Ursula K. Le Guin

THE WIND BLEW FROM THE sea. A tiny thistle growing in a cleft in the rock near her hand nodded and nodded in the wind from the sea. Ged was beside her. They were crouched side by side, the sea behind them and the dragon before them. It looked at them sidelong from one long, yellow eye. Ged spoke in a hoarse, shaking voice, in the dragon’s language. Tenar understood the words, which were only, “Our thanks, Eldest.” Looking at Tenar, Kalessin spoke, in the huge voice like a broom of metal dragged across a gong: “Aro Tehanu?” “The child,” Tenar said—“Therru!” She got to her feet to run, to seek her child. She saw her coming along the ledge of rock between the mountain and the sea, toward the dragon. “Don’t run, Therru!” she cried, but the child had seen her and was running, running straight to her. They clung to each other. The dragon turned its enormous, rust-dark head to watch them with both eyes. The nostril pits, big as kettles, were bright with fire, and wisps of smoke curled from them. The heat of the dragon’s body beat through the cold sea wind. “Tehanu,” the dragon said. The child turned to look at it. “Kalessin,” she said.