by Victor Poole
Ajalia drew back her mind into her body; the blue wings were moving up and down in the air, making her hang almost still in the sky, high above the roof of the dragon temple. Ajalia flew down, and landed on the balcony of her room. She saw Delmar's face turned up to her as she descended. As soon as her bare feet touched down on the stone of the balcony, she unwound the tendrils of blue light from the sky that she had twisted hard around her bones, and she felt a sigh of relief building up in her chest. For some reason, the twisting of the blue lights felt painful to her, like a pair of shoes that were too tight, or a dress that fit too snug under the arms. She let go of the wings, and they drifted apart into their former cords, and resumed their places in the sky.
Ajalia heard a scrape above her, and she looked up and saw Delmar climbing down the carved facade of the dragon temple. Ajalia went into her room, and looked about. She went to her bed, and straightened up the things she had flung down when she had gotten undressed earlier. She was acutely aware of the tunic she had put on, and cinched around her waist. She wished she had her other clothes on again, but she did not think it would take Delmar long to climb down to the balcony. She felt suddenly exposed, and went out to meet him. Delmar was just dropping down. Ajalia fought back a sudden temptation to yank on the curtains, and to close off her room from view. She could not have said why, but she felt absurdly silly next to Delmar now.
DELMAR AND AJALIA
"Hello," he said with a smile. Ajalia glared at him. "I came down from the roof, like you said," Delmar said. "Leed's going to do a lot of things with me tomorrow, and with Philas. I saw you flying," he added, and Ajalia saw that Delmar was a little awestruck with her. She felt suddenly angry, and she thought that she felt more angry than she had ever been in her whole life, even more angry than she had been when she had destroyed the second black worm.
"I'm very upset with you," Ajalia told Delmar. Delmar smiled, as though she had told him something pleasant.
"Okay," he said. "Why?" Ajalia's frown deepened.
"You are not allowed to smile, or be joyful when I am angry," she told him. Delmar could not stop himself from laughing. "I mean it!" Ajalia said sternly. Delmar caught her around the waist.
"Will you tell me why you're mad at me?" Delmar asked. His voice was altogether too warm and inviting, Ajalia thought. She wanted to have a fight with Delmar. She wanted him to fight back, and she did not know why.
"I told you I destroyed the black worm," Ajalia told him. "I don't think you believe me." She did not want to tell Delmar about the second worm until she was sure he would actually think she was speaking of something real. She felt shaky enough about her own experience with the black dragon, without adding in a dismissal or a disbelieving look from Delmar.
"Okay," Delmar said easily. "But I do believe you."
"No you don't," Ajalia said. She was not yet willing to extricate herself from Delmar's grip, but she was very aware of how visible they both were on the moonlit balcony. "People can see us, if they're looking," she said shortly, pulling at Delmar.
"But it's very early in the morning," Delmar protested, standing firm. Ajalia saw that he thought the moonlight was quite romantic. She felt utterly soured towards Delmar, and she was angry at him for ruining their first time alone since he had gone away. She had, in the very back of her mind, been making up a wonderful feeling of cozy togetherness that she wanted to have when Delmar came back, and here she was, alone at last with Delmar, and so angry that she could have told him to go away again, and meant it.
"Yes," Ajalia said, "and I've been flying, and you're the Thief Lord, and the dragon temple is very worth spying on."
"Pshaw," Delmar said, but he followed Ajalia into the darkness beyond the curtains. As soon as the flap of the curtain fell down behind him, he wrapped his arms around her, and put his lips against hers in a kiss.
"Well, I am not ready for kissing," Ajalia said angrily, extricating herself efficiently. A wounded silence emanated from Delmar towards her.
"But why?" he asked, a little plaintively.
"If you believed what I said, why would you be making plans to destroy the black worm yourself?" Ajalia asked.
"But there are two," Delmar said weakly. "And they aren't worms," he added, almost under his breath. A new surge of indignation swelled in Ajalia's breast. She had felt, just a moment ago, that she was being a little unfair, but she did not feel so now.
"You're treating me like a liar," Ajalia pointed out.
"I am not!" Delmar said.
"Are too," she said.
"I am not!" Delmar said again. "Why are you being so mean all of a sudden?" he asked, as though he had just realized that she was angry.
"I told you I was angry," she said.
"Yes, but why are you being mean?" Delmar asked, as if the two things were unrelated. Ajalia squelched a desire to yell. Then, she realized that she was angry enough to yell, and she thought about whether or not she wanted to yell. She knew her boys were going to hear her, if she shouted at Delmar.
"I don't know if I'm ready to tell you," Ajalia said. Delmar was invisible in the darkness, but Ajalia could imagine the expression in his eyes.
"Tell me anyway," he suggested.
"You used to act like this a lot," Ajalia pointed out, "before we got your parents out of your system." Delmar seemed to think about this.
"Do you think they're back?" he asked.
"No," Ajalia said, sitting down at her desk in the darkness, "I think you're used to playing dumb to get your way."
"But I'm not trying to get my way right now," Delmar protested. Ajalia bit back a laugh.
"You want to kiss me," she said.
"But you want that, too," he said anxiously. Ajalia didn't say anything. "Don't you?" he demanded, his voice rising a little.
"I did until you were rude about the black worm I told you about," Ajalia said. Silence followed this statement.
"But," Delmar said, and then he didn't say anymore. Ajalia was not sure if he was angry at her, or confused at what she meant. She remembered what Leed had told her and Philas, about Delmar being a liar, and she smiled.
"Leed says that you are a liar," Ajalia said. "He says that you lie for good, and you get away with it because your heart is pure. But I think that you have a very bad habit of lying to me when you're uncomfortable."
"I'm not uncomfortable," Delmar said uncomfortably. Ajalia smiled again. She felt as though she were winning, and Ajalia enjoyed winning very much. She could hear that Delmar was on the defensive.
"I killed the other black dragon, or whatever you called them, just now," Ajalia said in a friendly voice. "That's why I was flying. I was putting the road back together, because the dragon's tail whipped up the sand, and covered up the road to the oasis."
Delmar received this statement in absolute silence. He sounded like a statue. Ajalia felt as though she could have been all alone in her room. She leaned back a little in her chair, and balanced against the desk on the back two legs of the chair. Her chair made a slight creaking noise.
"Are you playing with your chair?" Delmar asked indignantly. Ajalia smiled, and then nodded.
"Yes," she said soberly.
"Why?" Delmar demanded. "Isn't that a very frivolous thing to be doing at a time like this?"
"What kind of a time is this?" Ajalia asked.
"I don't know!" Delmar said vehemently, "but it certainly is not a time for playing with your chair!"
"My boys are going to wake up if you shout," Ajalia pointed out. "Then they are all going to creep to the outside of my door, which is admittedly thin, and then, once we finish arguing and start to do other things, they are going to hear everything."
"What other things?" Delmar said at once. Ajalia almost laughed when she heard the intensity in his voice.
"Oh," she said vaguely, "things."
"You look very nice in that outfit," Delmar added. He did not say it in a way that told her he was trying to butter her up; he seemed utterly unconscious of
the timing he had chosen for his compliment.
"Thank you," Ajalia said.
"I haven't seen you wear it before," Delmar said. Ajalia heard him sigh, and then she heard him make a kind of resigned mutter. "What do I have to say so you'll be friends again?" he asked.
"No," Ajalia said.
"What do you mean, no?" he demanded. He sounded a little irate.
"I'm not going to do the work for you," Ajalia said. She did not sound angry at all. Ajalia could almost hear Delmar thinking. She heard the way he was trying figure out what she was getting at, and she could also hear the way he hoped she would let it all go.
"Couldn't I apologize by kissing you?" he asked.
"No," she said.
"Why not?" he asked.
"Because I don't enjoy kissing people who think I'm a liar," Ajalia said. Delmar huffed in the darkness. She heard the mattress creak, and she imagined him sitting a little petulantly on the bed.
"Well this is not going at all the way I anticipated," Delmar said. Ajalia laughed, and his silence turned a shade darker. "I don't think you're being very sensitive," he told her.
"Is it sensitive of you to call me a liar?" Ajalia asked.
"No," Delmar said at once, "but I didn't call you a liar, did I?" Ajalia said nothing, and after a very long pause, she heard Delmar sigh again. "Won't you please forgive me?" he asked. He sounded half-hearted.
"Am I supposed to forget that you think I'm a liar, just so you can have your picture back of kissing me romantically?" Ajalia asked. The silence turned now from a shadow of strain to a sort of mutinous anger.
"I didn't ever call you a liar," Delmar said stiffly.
"Did too," Ajalia said.
"Did not!" Delmar cried. He moderated his tone quickly, and Ajalia knew he was thinking of the boys who slept in another room. "Um," he whispered. "What was that you were saying, about what we would do later?" Ajalia stifled a smile. She knew that Delmar could not see her, but she did not want to sound jocular when she responded. She thought that Delmar was being ridiculous about the matter of the black worms, but she did not want to hurt his feelings.
She did not know what to say, and so she said nothing at all.
"Well?" Delmar asked. He sounded anxious again. "I mean," he said, "maybe if you explain why—" he broke off. When he spoke again, his voice was level, and calm. "Will you explain what I did wrong?" he asked. He sounded quite like himself again, and Ajalia thought that he was no longer putting himself up on a pedestal of offended dignity.
"Why did you act the way you did," she asked, "when I said I saw a big black worm rise up in the great hall, and I destroyed it?"
"Well, I don't think it sounds reasonable," Delmar said. He sounded quite reasonable. The corners of Ajalia's mouth drew down.
"So if I say something happened to me," she said, "and you decide that it is not reasonable, you will tell me that it probably didn't happen? What does that mean?" she asked. "Does that mean that I'm crazy, or does it mean that I'm a liar?"
"You're being a little defensive about this," Delmar said. He sounded doubtful. Ajalia settled the chair back onto four legs, and stood up. She knew that Delmar heard the thonking noise that the chair legs made, because the bed creaked a little, as though he had shifted his weight. "I don't think you're a liar," he said.
"You think you can get me to ignore what you did," Ajalia said. "It's not going to work."
"I don't think that," Delmar said quickly.
"Yes you do," Ajalia said. "You want to ignore what I said, and go on a big adventure to hunt down some legendary evil dragons, and kill them, and you want me to go along with it so you can feel important."
"I think that is a terrible thing to say to me," Delmar said finally.
"Why?" Ajalia asked.
"Because it's definitely not true," Delmar said. Ajalia told herself that it probably was true, since Delmar was so vehemently denying it.
"Well," Ajalia said. Delmar seemed spooked at the finality in her tone.
"What do you mean, well?" Delmar demanded.
"I mean, well," Ajalia said.
"But what does that mean?" Delmar asked. He sounded as though he were growing angry again.
"It means I am getting kind of into the mindset of I would like to go to bed now," Ajalia said.
"You don't have to go to bed," Delmar said. "I mean, I would rather you talked to me."
"Why?" Ajalia asked. "So you can lie to me again?"
"I am not lying to you!" Delmar hissed loudly.
"I think you are," Ajalia said. "Does this mean that I'm just wrong, and you're right? Do you always get to be right if I don't agree with you?"
"Of course not!" Delmar said, his voice little more than a whisper. Ajalia stood up, and stretched out her arms. "Are you standing up?" he asked.
"Yes," Ajalia said.
"Can we be friends now?" Delmar asked.
"You are the one who is not being friendly to me," Ajalia pointed out.
"No," Delmar replied, "you're the one saying I'm lying, and things like that."
"Well," Ajalia said.
"Stop saying that," Delmar said, "please. Stop saying, 'well.' It makes me feel very uncomfortable."
"Is it more important to you that you be comfortable?" Ajalia asked, "Or for me to like you?"
"What does that even mean?" Delmar asked, sounding quite astonished. "You have to like me."
"I have to like you?" Ajalia asked. She kept all of the sarcasm out of her voice; she was quite proud of how calm and friendly her voice sounded. She thought about kissing Delmar, but told herself that he would never change if she went about kissing him when he was behaving like this.
"Yes," Delmar said indignantly. "You have to like me. That's what it means when you love somebody."
"Well, I love you," Ajalia said, "and I don't like you at all right now." Ajalia could see the dislike rippling through the air towards her from Delmar, though she could not see his face.
"But I always like you," Delmar said.
"You don't," Ajalia said. "You admitted before that you don't like me sometimes."
"I don't think I've ever said that," Delmar said. "You must have talked to someone else about this. I always like you a lot." He said this with something very like vengeance and ire dripping from his tone, and Ajalia smiled, though she no longer felt like laughing.
"If you make me angry," Ajalia said, "I will not be nice about this anymore."
"You're already not being nice!" Delmar said. Ajalia went to the door, and swiftly opened it. She did not bother looking for faces; she was sure that most of the household had assembled itself outside her door. She knew that her boys were becoming adept spies, and she guessed that the young women would be intensely curious about her relationship with Delmar. She did not see any faces, but she heard the scuttle of feet, and the impact of many bodies hurtling away down the hall.
Delmar stood up, and came near the door. Ajalia could feel the heat from his body radiating at her.
"Were there people out there?" he asked.
"Everyone, probably," Ajalia said. "Even Ocher, if he's here."
"Why would Ocher be here?" Delmar demanded, sounding outraged.
"Ocher is probably here for the same reason that you are," Ajalia said, closing the door, "although I don't think he and Clare are married yet." She had entirely forgotten what Isacar had said, about Clare going off to get married.
"Clare?" Delmar asked blankly. "Wait," he said, and she imagined him furrowing his brow. "Did you tell me that Ocher was planning to get married?"
"Yes, to Clare," Ajalia said. Delmar thought about this.
"Why is Ocher here?" he asked.
"Kissing, etcetera," Ajalia said. A puritanical silence followed this statement.
"But," Delmar said, sounding shocked.
"Yes?" Ajalia asked.
"Isn't Ocher awfully old?" Delmar asked weakly.
"No, not really," Ajalia said. She saw that Delmar thought of Ocher more as an uncl
e, or a peer to his dead father, than as a man still quite in his prime. "Clare doesn't think so," Ajalia added.
"Have you seen them together?" Delmar asked. "Like, in the same room? Is it awkward?"
"No," Ajalia said. "And of course I saw them together. I set them up."
"You what?" Delmar asked, sounding utterly appalled. He was silent for a long time, and then Ajalia began to divine that he was reconsidering her moral outlook, seeing as she had no problem making a pair of Ocher and Clare.
"I told you several times that Ocher wanted a wife," Ajalia said, "and that I promised him a wife."
Delmar wandered back to the bed, and sat down again. Ajalia opened the door one more time. This time there were no scuttling feet. "Who's at the end of the hall?" Ajalia called. A very pregnant silence was her answer. "You all know that I carry a knife with me, right?" she asked. This time she heard hurried footsteps, and she smiled. She shut the door, and locked it again. She could tell, from the sort of silence that filled up the room, that Delmar was no longer thinking about kissing her. He was now thoroughly absorbed in the idea of Clare and Ocher making a permanent couple. Ajalia went to the bed, and sat down, too.
"Isn't Ocher really old?" Delmar asked.
"Not very old," Ajalia said.
"But isn't Clare super young?" he asked urgently. Ajalia suppressed a sigh.
"Would it make you feel better," she asked, "if you went and had an interview or something? You could go light a lamp, and find Clare, and you could interrogate her, and ask her to please tell you that she really loves Ocher, and wants to sleep with him."
"I never said anything," Delmar said, his voice lowering into the depths of horror, "about them sleeping together." Ajalia could not help herself. She began to laugh, and when Delmar scooted away from her to sit at the very edge of the bed, she laughed harder. "I don't see anything funny about this," Delmar told Ajalia. She tried to hold in her glee, and failed miserably. "What are you laughing about?" Delmar asked, sound confused, but relieved that she had stopped calling him a liar.