by Viola Grace
“Lovely. I would like to sign up for less power, please.”
Niida laughed. “You don’t get to choose, I am afraid. Trin made huge rippling footsteps in the world before she became a dragon. She and my husband have been friends since they were small. She has always had a plan for success and survival. Trin has always played the long game.”
“That is the impression she gives off on first meeting.” Kabyl smiled. “But she means well, and she backs up what she says.”
“That she does.” She smiled. “She made Brenner an equal partner in the shops, and even with all the improvements and the running around to suppliers that she does, she holds to it. She literally does most of the work but still splits the profits equally. She really wants everyone around her to do well and be comfortable. It is a lovely characteristic in someone with as much power as she now has.”
Kabyl looked up as Trin returned, and she nodded. “It is definitely a nice trait to have.”
Trin sat down in one of the delicate chairs and ran her hands through her hair. “Right. Well, you won’t be seeing them again. They are doing inventory of the motor pool. Idiots. They were supposed to bring you here, not escort you here. The difference is a lot of exertion. You should have just been able to ride in the cold air and relax. Your training is physically draining enough.”
“And of course, those tools didn’t bother to tell me that.”
Trin shrugged. “They were thinking that you weren’t actually a dragon. There hasn’t been a dragon enrolled in the peacekeepers in current history. The fact that you applied for and got into the training program while being a human makes it even more peculiar. They were trying to punish you for pretending to be a dragon, but when you shifted, they had to continue on with their plan.”
“Well, I know how to get home on my own now. I can fly back without an escort.”
Trin smiled. “Eltrinia has volunteered to get you to the training center. We have photos for her to use.”
Kabyl looked at the empty carafes and the three sandwich towers, and she blushed. “I have money. I just forgot to pack it.”
Trin waved that away. “It’s fine. I will bill it to the law courts. Now, we need to get you a safe place to sleep.”
Niida raised her hand. “She can stay with us.”
“Your mother is staying with you this week. So, it will either be the senator’s home or Creata’s.”
Niida smiled. “If Creata has the space, I would definitely pick her place. Her housekeeper makes an amazing breakfast.”
Kabyl shook her head. “I can just curl up anywhere. I don’t need a room or anything.”
Trin smiled. “I have already asked Vasic and Creata. They have room, you can meet my niece, and have a nice relaxing evening.”
“Niece?”
“Amesthet. She’s a baby lioness who steals hearts wherever she toddles.” Trin’s expression softened. “Vasic’s karros is out front. I will come with you to make the introductions, and then, you need to get some sleep.”
Kabyl didn’t want to argue. She had passed out in front of Trin before and didn’t want to repeat the experience.
She nodded and smiled at Niida. “Thank you so much. This was tremendously helpful.”
Niida grinned. “You took care of our leftovers, so tomorrow we can start fresh. I have enjoyed speaking with you. I hope you come back again when you are in the neighborhood.”
Kabyl nodded. “I will. Next time, I will have cash on me.”
Niida laughed. “Don’t worry about it. I will just bill it to Trin, and she can claim her maintenance from the senate.”
Kabyl slowly got to her feet. “I will still try to pay my own way. It’s just the way I was raised.”
Trin smiled and linked arms with her, supporting her while she slowly made her way to the street. She turned back and looked at the sign. Harbinger Tea.
She was going to remember that.
Chapter Six
The Tal household was elegant, understated, and had children’s toys hidden in plain sight. Vasic Tal answered the door, his sober and stern face in direct contrast to the laughing little girl on his hip. “Ah, Trin. Come in.”
The little one squealed when she saw Trin and stretched out her arms, her bare feet kicking.
Trin caught her and smiled. “Hey, baby. How are you doing?”
The girl shrieked with laughter and pulled on Trin’s hair.
Vasic sighed as Trin went inside, babbling to the child. “You are Ms. Ambermarle?”
“Kabyl. Please. Thank you for the offer of hospitality.”
“It is no trouble. We have plenty of room, and with Creata’s relationship with Trin, it brings interesting folk to the door.”
“Relationship?”
“They grew up at the same orphanage. My wife was there, and she met Trin and Brenner. Eventually, Creata’s family situation shifted, and it was a while before she was able to get back into her mother’s custody. She has remained close with Trin for their entire lives.”
“Ah. Right.” Kabyl walked beside him.
He gestured to the top of the stairs. “Your room is the second on the right. Blue bedding.”
“Do I have to go now?” She frowned.
“No. Of course not. I just wanted to make sure you knew in case there is an infant emergency or something when you are tired.” Vasic smiled.
It was easy to see that this man was a doting father.
Trin had walked with the small chattering person and headed for the back yard.
Vasic chuckled. “Of course. I had forgotten she said she was going to be there tonight.”
Kabyl followed curiously, and the sparks that could be seen coming out of one of the sheds near the edge of the property showed her where everyone was headed.
“My dearest wife has creative impulses that need to be channeled.” Vasic’s lips were twisted in amusement. “She has changed a lot since she was a quiet little socialite. I have to admit that I have enjoyed the transformation.”
Kabyl was surprised by his openness. She didn’t say anything as she followed Trin, the baby, and Vasic to the building where the sparks were steady and ongoing.
When the door opened, the sparks stopped. They all stepped in, and there was one of the most delicate and feminine-looking women that Kabyl had ever seen, and she was dressed in welding gear.
The woman beamed at her baby. “How is my little princess?”
The child squealed and wagged her arms.
“Creata, I would like to introduce you to Kabyl. Kabyl, this is one of my best friends, Creata. She’s little Amesthet’s mother and a hugely talented inventor.”
Vasic cleared his throat.
“Oh, and Vasic’s lady wife.” Trin wrinkled her nose.
Kabyl stepped forward and extended her hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
Creata smiled and shook her hand. “I am pleased to meet you. Trin has been overjoyed to see someone else with naturally white hair. It is all she talks about.”
Creata held a straight face, and then, she collapsed in laughter.
The metal frame she had been welding was still glowing hot. Kabyl walked over and slowly cooled the frame so that if the toddler wandered around, she wouldn’t get burned.
Creata looked at the metal and smiled. “Very neat trick.”
“You should see me make a snowman.” As she said it, the little girl looked at her with wide eyes.
Oh no. She knew that look. She had seen it twice in local kids back home. With slumped shoulders, she walked toward the door, looking at the toddler who was now on her own two feet. “Do you wanna make a snowman?”
The little girl shrieked happily, and they went to the lawn where Kabyl crouched down, and then, she extended her hands, focusing on making snow. Snow was different from ice, it was frost in a moment, caught for eternity... or until they melted. She used the moisture in the grass, and she raised her hands up as the pile of snow gathered. She continued up and up, the toddler was staring with ra
pt attention. When the snowman was as tall as the little girl was, Kabyl drew a face, looked around, and found decorative stones. She got up and took two dark stones, but there was something missing.
She looked at Amesthet and tilted her head. “Do you have a carrot?”
The chubby little legs were a blur as she sprinted for the house. Vasic went to keep an eye on her, and he asked, “Anything else?”
“Some sticks for arms. I think I can find those.”
Kabyl looked around, and she found a shrub with some dried branches. She snapped them off and crouched near her white and blobby creation.
The carrot was far too big for the snowman, but the determined little face was waving it over her head in triumph meant that massive carrot was going to be rammed through the head of that snowman. He needed to be bigger. Now.
Kabyl stood, and she pulled the snowman higher then higher again. She looked over at Vasic. “Bigger branches, please.”
He grinned and went to one of the bushes, identifying it as a suitable donor.
By the time Amesthet reached her, the snowman was ready for the magnificent carrot that she had acquired.
“There.” The toddler said it clearly as she handed it over. “Make!”
Kabyl set the arms on and then put the nose in. The shrieking was tremendous.
She had used the more twisted of the two branches to curl around, and she carefully lifted Amesthet up and set her in the curve of the snowman’s arm.
Trin moved and quickly took shots with her recorder. Creata praised her little girl and took her down when the girl announced, “Cold.”
Kabyl sighed. “Yes. And tomorrow, he will be gone.”
The small face was sober. “Melting.”
That was a relief. Telling the folks, it wouldn’t last was her Achille’s heel. She had built a lot of snowpeople in her day, and the look on children’s faces was always a killer when she had to tell them that they couldn’t take their creations to school in spring.
Amesthet hugged the snowbeing, and she giggled at the cold press against her skin. She got her hands nice and cold and then beckoned to her dad, pressing her hands to his cheeks and giggling madly when his eyes widened.
The toddler did the same to her mother, and Kabyl stood back with Trin.
The diamond dragon watched the baby play with her parents. “I didn’t know you could make snowmen?”
“It is a control skill that I have been practicing. Snow is just controlled frost.” Kabyl swayed a little.
Trin sighed. “Get some rest.”
“I am meeting new people. Just a little shell shocked.” Kabyl straightened.
“You flew across the continent today without taking a break. Cut yourself some slack.” Trin touched her shoulder.
A wave of fatigue came over Kabyl. “Are you doing that?”
“No. Your dragon is. She is exhausted. She’s pulling you down. I just made it easier for her to communicate with you. Listen.”
Kabyl closed her eyes, and her dragon was tired. She wanted time to recover, time to rest. She was strong, but she hadn’t been able to work out. She was simply out of shape and not driven by the same urgency of her emergence.
Kabyl stepped forward and smiled at her hosts. “Please excuse me. It has been a very long and tiring day. The snowman should last two or three days. The core is extra cold.”
She turned and walked back to the house, swaying drunkenly but making it to the house before heading up the stairs. When she got to the bedroom, she stripped to the skin, washed out her underwear, and hung it over the curtain rod to dry. They would be damp in the morning, but they would be clean.
The bedding was shockingly soft. Kabyl had never been in a bed so soft. She was just analyzing the feel of it against her skin, and then, she was out.
There was something small and very warm near her. Kabyl opened her eyes, and the moderately toothed little person was sitting there in a pretty romper, rocking back and forth.
Creata’s voice hissed from the door. “Amee. Come back here. Don’t wake her up.”
Amee giggled and touched Kabyl’s hair. “Pretty.”
Kabyl sat up and held the bedding to her chest. “It’s fine, Creata. I am up.”
“I am so sorry. She is a slippery little thing.” The mother came up to her and caressed Amee’s hair. When the child wasn’t braced for it, Creata scooped her up. “She likes your hair. Trin’s isn’t as long, so there isn’t much chance for her to play with it.”
“If you give me a moment to shower and get dressed, I will let her play with it while I beg for breakfast.”
Creata smiled. “No begging required. Breakfast is being prepared, so we will let you get to it.”
As soon as she was alone, Kabyl went and took a shower, brushing out her hair before braiding it into a thick cable. Her underwear was surprisingly dry, and she hoped that it was a taste of things to come.
Her uniform was on a hangar, and to her amazement, it had been cleaned and pressed in the dark of night.
She got dressed and put on her boots. They had been polished.
“Wow. Full service.” She smiled and straightened everything that she was wearing. With slow steps, she headed out of her room and down the steps. Creata was sitting at an elaborate dining room table with Amesthet in her lap.
There was a sideboard filled with food, and Kabyl’s dragon woke up.
Creata chuckled. “Eat all you want. There is more in the kitchen.”
There was a plate on a heated spot, and Kabyl went through the line as quickly as she could while still filling her plate to the very edges.
Creata raised her brows. “That is a full plate.”
“I burn a lot of calories.” Kabyl sat at the table and wrinkled her nose at Amesthet. “Morning, sweetie.”
Ten seconds later, the baby had crawled out of her mother’s grip, over the table, and down into Kabyl’s lap.
The meal went quickly with polite conversation with Creata about the environment that Kabyl had grown up in, culminating with the question, “How much can your dragon lift?”
“I honestly don’t know. We are still getting used to working together.”
Creata chuckled. “You will get there. The first year of transformation is difficult when you don’t know what to expect.”
“Ah. I knew what to expect. I just never thought that the transformation would happen to me.” Kabyl looked longingly at the sideboard.
“Go ahead. Get a clean plate and hand me the little barnacle. She has taken a shine to you.”
Kabyl grinned. “Kids and puppies. They come running.”
She got up and handed the toddler over before going back for more food. “Please tell me that this hunger stops.”
“When your beast is fully settled with you, it stops.”
Kabyl rolled her eyes. “She had better hurry up. Folks are starting to talk, and my parents will go broke.”
Creata laughed. “I can get Trin to give you an account via the senate. The dragons support their new evolutions.”
“Is that what I am?”
Creata chuckled and made a face at the baby. “There are a dozen dragons in various stages of evolving, and Trin can feel them all. Thankfully, Eltrinia was created. It makes moving close to the new dragons quickly much more efficient than trying to fly to them.”
“So, it isn’t just the peacekeepers that will call on me. The senate might call on me as well.”
“If there is another newbie in your area, I would count on it.” She smiled and cocked her head. “When you are done, your transport is here.”
Kabyl sighed and finished the last bites on her plate. “Right. Of course. I had forgotten why I was here.”
“We all have a part to play, Kabyl. Make sure that Trin brings you back here for dinner.”
That was an order that Kabyl would gladly follow.
She finished her food, stood, bowed, and headed for the door. Today, hopefully, she would give her testimony.
C
hapter Seven
After being prepped by the prosecution, she was ready to testify as to the nature of the creatures that had killed so many people.
Kabyl had to sit on the bench outside the courtroom, and when the bailiff came to get her, she got to her feet.
She was escorted to the front of the court and then settled in the dock next to the judge. She placed her hand on the law book and swore to tell the truth.
“Cadet Ambermarle, you are here as the witness who first made contact with the creatures, correct?” The prosecutor glanced up from his notes.
“I am. Correct.”
“Can you tell the court what you saw on that first day.”
She explained quickly about the wellness check, the blood smearing the cabin, and then the bizarre feeling of being pursued through the woods.
“You carry scars from this first incursion, don’t you?”
Kabyl frowned. “I do.”
The defense suddenly made a flurry of notes.
She answered questions from the prosecutor about the next few passes and then the arrest.
“So, you recognized the man responsible?”
“Of course. We went to school together. That is him... wait.” She squinted. “No, that is a projection. But it is his likeness.”
The prosecutor stood up in shock. “The defendant isn’t even here?”
The defense coloured when the judge ordered them to explain themselves.
“Ah, your honour, our client and his family were worried about retribution for his actions. We were going to file his projected presence when we requested identification.” The defense counsel gave her a dirty look.
Kabyl’s eyes widened as the prosecutor’s narrowed. The defense was going to phrase a positive identification, and if she said that it was him, they would say that she had not appropriately identified the defendant.
She answered a few more questions for the prosecution, and then, it was the defense’s turn.
The defense counsel looked at her and got to his feet. “Miss Ambermarle.”