Dee Ringrose

His goal is to be a great scientist like his hero the famous Sir Isaac Newton He knows all sorts of ‘fun facts’ about Sir Isaac – enough to drive Lucy crazy with them. In the beginning he is living with his aunt Delia who indulges his experiments if he cleans up the mess.

Dee’s willing to engage in alchemical experiments that can ‘not go according to plan’ in his quest for the key to transforming lead into gold to fund a search for his missing archaeologist parents. He’s a cautious and careful problem solver but not physically adventurous putting a lot more thought into what risks he’s prepared to take than his best friend, Lucy. He absolutely does not want to have adventures outside. There is enough excitement in his lab.

“Oh, wow! Let’s check it out!” Lucy ran toward the mouth of the cave. “Come on!” She motioned to Dee, who hung back still clutching the tree.
He shook his head. “It’s dark and there are probably spiders. Besides, we don’t know if the blast created any more damage. We shouldn’t go in until we can be sure there won’t be a cave-in.”

He approaches his adventure in Sericea in his typical scientific fashion, his notebook always ready to hand, which occasionally embarrasses Lucy.

He studied the back of Zi’s long neck. The blue ruff was thick and soft, like the ruff on the big chow they had when he was little, and it ended somewhere under Dee’s saddle. Shimmering scales, like a blue Malaysian coral snake’s, covered his body. Dee looked down and saw Zi had shiny black hooves, like a horse. But horses don’t have sparkly antlers.
Well—Dee sat back in the saddle—I might as well start my scientific inquiries right here and right now.
“Zi, I was wondering, what sort of species are you? You have the features of multiple animals. Are you a product of crossbreeding?”
Zi turned his head to fix Dee with a gaze out of one glowing eye. “We were made, yes. We have the fleetness of the white golden-horned antelope, the courage of the lion, the power of the dragon, and the stamina of the horse.”
Dragons, Dee mentally noted. I’ll come back to that later.
“Are there female Xami? Are you able to reproduce?”
“Dee! Personal question!” Lucy looked shocked.
He felt a flush creep up is neck. “Sorry, it’s just that where we come from, mules, the product of crossbreeding between horses and donkey, are sterile.”

Dee takes a much more tolerant approach to Yidi’s initial petulance and entitlement than Lucy does and is a pragmatic steadying force when she seems ready to quit.

“Dee, I’m not sure what we’re doing here anymore.” She cupped her chin in her hand. “Lord Petram said our mission was to keep Yidi safe until he came of age. And he sure is in danger. More danger than you or I expected.” She paused and scrabbled beside her for a moment before selecting a flat pebble to skim across the surface of the water. “Why on earth does Lord Petram want this kid on the throne? He and the Xami must think that Yidi would be a better ruler than Xixi, but he sure doesn’t seem fit to rule.”
“Maybe just because it is lawful and preserves order. The throne is rightfully his,” Dee pointed out. “And three years is a long time. He could change a lot as he gets older.”
“For the better?” Lucy wrinkled her nose.
“Look, Lucy. It’s not up to us to decide who is and isn’t a good ruler for this country. What do we know about it anyway?” Dee said.

Favourite expressions:

“There must be a better way.”
“Do you want to hear a fun-fact about…”