by Jada Fisher
“Don’t talk about my father!” Ain snapped, his face red in a way that was quite different from Athar’s blush.
“Oh, did I hit a sensitive spot?” Eist said, pulling her lips back from her teeth. Normally she wouldn’t feel the need to antagonize him, but he wasn’t letting her get away and she felt all her frustration from everything going on mount up inside of her and spill out of her mouth. “I’m sorry that he spent more time chasing skirts in the tavern than ever loving you or your mother, but please, don’t project that need for attention onto me.”
It was nice to watch his rage rush across his face, but she didn’t have that long to enjoy it before his hand suddenly lashed out and pain lanced through her.
The sound hit her belatedly as her head jerked to the side. Straightening slowly, she realized that Ain had slapped her!
She stared at him, eyes wide. Had he really just stuck her as if she was a child?! Who the hell did he think he was?
“I said, don’t talk about him.”
Eist glared at him, trying to think of how she wanted to respond. Her cheek was red now and a bit puffy. The pain had already faded, but the humiliation was mounting. She hadn’t gotten into a physical fight in ages, but she could feel her fists clenching.
She never got a chance to decide what to do one way or the other because suddenly there was a loud, grating squawk beside them. Eist’s head whipped towards the sound to see Fior crouched at the end of the table, his toothless mouth opened wide as he made that strange noise.
“It’s fine—” she started to say, but groans from both Ain and Athar made her turn back to the young men. Both were doubled over, their hands clapped over their ears and looks of pain on their face while their dragons were booking it for the other side of the room, where they slid under a table to hide. Eist watched, curious and confused by their action, until Fior stopped making the strange noise behind her.
“What the he—” Ain started to say, but Fior was on him instantly, leaping onto his chest and ripping at the fine clothes he was wearing. His gums snapped at Ain’s face, trying to close on his nose or lips and leaving thick spit everywhere. “Get him off!” Ain screamed, trying to pull the dragon away from his body. In just the second that had passed, Eist could see red blooming across his chest.
“Fior!” she cried, rushing forward. Sure, it was nice to see him get his just desserts, but she didn’t want her dragon to get in trouble for it. Plus, as much as she hated Ain, she didn’t want him to suffer any egregious bodily harm. Mostly she just wanted his ego to hurt.
She grabbed onto the little guy’s back and pulled as hard as she could, trying to loosen his grip, but he just increased his fury upon Ain, slashing, clawing, and biting. Even with Eist pulling as hard as she could and Ain yanking at his legs, Fior was holding on tightly, flapping his wings in both their faces.
Suddenly, a shadow loomed over them and strong hands wrapped around each of Fior’s back paws and yanked upwards. The little dragon obviously wasn’t expecting such a move, and finally let go of Ain to look angrily at Athar.
“Here,” he said, handing the dragon to Eist.
“Are you kidding me!?” Ain snapped, stumbling back. Now that Eist could get a good look at him without Fior in the way, she saw that he really was beat up, with claw marks up his entire chest and several deep scratches across his face.
Funny, he looked much less handsome when covered with blood. Maybe this would be a lesson to him, but she doubted it.
“You’ve crossed the line now, deformed sard! I don’t know why everyone is letting you slip by, but they won’t be able to look past this!”
He pushed by Athar, stumbling out of the room still cursing his brains out. Eist looked to the giant of a young man, wondering if he had anything to say about what had just happened.
“Your dragon cares for you,” he said simply. There was an odd concentration to his features as he spoke. “That will do you well.”
And then he left, closing the door behind him.
Fior growled after him before snuggling into Eist’s chest. She patted his head gently, and he was back to her loving little boy who just wanted to be fed and steal shiny things. She had a feeling that this wasn’t the end of things, but at least Ain was dealt with for now.
Who knew, maybe he would actually leave her alone.
Yeah, and maybe her grandfather would magically wake up tomorrow of his own volition.
Eist rolled her eyes and headed to her room. She had enough adventure for one day, and it was just the beginning of the week.
7
Repercussions
“Alright, ready? One…two…three… Fly!”
Fior wiggled his bottom before launching himself off the perch in the training yard. His wings flared out, reflecting bright copper in the sunlight with little dappled bits of black, and for a moment, he was suspended in the air like the magnificent beast.
And then he fell towards the ground like a rock.
But Eist was already waiting for him, her arms outstretched. She caught him and gave him a slight kiss to the top of his head. “Don’t worry, little guy. You’ll get it eventually.”
“He definitely will,” Ale’a said, offering a hand to help her up. “By the way, have you taken him to any of the dragon specialists at all?”
“Yeah, just last week. Why?”
Her lips pressed together into something that Eist recognized as concern. “He just seems a bit on the smallish side.”
Eist looked around to see that many of the dragons had all grown considerably in the month plus since being hatched. She had noticed that a couple of nights ago in the library but had hoped it was just that Ain and Athar’s dragons were particularly beefy.
“I guess he’s just got a bit of a slow start. He probably had a lot of healing to do on the inside.”
“That’s a good point. He did survive a lightning strike. Just do me a favor and start taking his measurements every few days. If he doesn’t increase in the next couple of weeks, I think you should take him to the healers again.”
“Alright,” Eist said, nodding and heading back to stand with her friends. Fior wiggled out of her arms, happy to see his two dragon pals, and the three of them started play-wrestling with each other. For being such a little guy, he held his own pretty well. But perhaps that was a testament to the gangly ineptitude of Alynbach rather than Fior’s ability.
“Hey, Eist,” Yacrist said, tapping on her shoulder to pull her attention away from the frolicking little guys. “I noticed you’ve been disappearing for a while during one of our free days each week. You’re not training without us, are you?”
She laughed at that, recalling those many sweaty extra hours that she had spent running, strength training, and strategizing. “Hardly. I made a deal with Fior that I would take him to the market every week if he stopped stealing things.”
“And he understood that deal?”
Eist shrugged. “He hasn’t stolen since.”
“I see… You know, sometimes when I look at Alynbach, I think that he understands way more than any animal should.”
“That’s because they’re not animals,” Dille said, rising from where she had been crouched on the ground.
“Um, if they’re not animals, then what are they?” Yacrist shot back playfully.
“They’re gifts. Blessings from the Storm itself. They may be beasts, yes, but they’re different from a dog or a cat or anything like that. That’s why we need to treat them with respect, and not just as creatures of war or peace.”
“Wow. I think that’s the most words I’ve ever heard you say at once.”
“Only because you don’t listen.”
“Fair enough.”
Eist giggled to herself at her friends’ banter. She loved when they got going like this. It was like having her own, personal play performed right in front of her.
“Anyway,” Yacrist continued. “If you’re planning to go to the market every week, maybe some time I could go with
you. I haven’t been there in ages.”
“Sure, I don’t see why not.” Eist turned to Dille. “Do you want to come too?”
She couldn’t be sure, but Eist thought she heard a faint whisper from behind her before the dark-skinned girl answered. “Um, I’m actually pretty busy lately. Maybe you and Yacrist should go on your own at first and I’ll join in another time.”
“Sure, I don’t mind. Even if you’re studying in secret so you can try to score higher marks on our evaluations.”
“It’s not about scoring better,” Dille said with mock haughtiness. “It’s about literally being better.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.”
The conversation kept on from there, their dragons playing about their feet. Once more Eist was filled with a lovely type of warmth that she hadn’t even known was possible. Not for the first time, she found herself incredibly grateful for the mini-family that she had made without intending to. In them, she found a contentment that she didn’t even know was possible.
She just hoped that nothing tried to take it away.
“And give me three more laps!”
Eist panted heavily, their physical trainer really putting them through the gauntlet. When her grandfather had told her that initiates didn’t learn combat until their second year and weapons training until their third, she had never stopped to think just what an entire year of just conditioning would be like.
In a word, it was boring.
And exhausting.
But mostly boring.
Eist never thought that boring and dragon rider would ever go in the same sentence together, but that was exactly how she felt as she ran her eleventh lap.
Her focus wavered ever so slightly as she noticed one of the administrative staff head towards Ale’a, a purpose to their stride. It was so unusual to see one of them outside of the building that Eist had to do a double-take to make sure that they were really there.
And indeed they were. The person reached the tall, warrior redhead and said something that looked quite urgent. Before Eist could try to suss out what they could possibly be saying, Ale’a pointed her way and she locked eyes with the staff member.
Oh.
Eist stopped running her lap and instead jogged up to the figure. As she grew closer, she realized that it was a slender man with aquiline features and almond eyes.
“Eist of Wallenhaus?”
“Yes, that is me,” she answered cautiously. What could an administrative staff want with her? Could it be her grandfather was finally awake?!
No. They would have sent a healer for that. This was definitely something else.
“The headmaster wishes to speak with you,” he said simply before turning on his heel. “Follow.”
Eist’s stomach dropped down through the ground and into the NetherRealm, where it stayed. Why did the headmaster want to talk to her? Was she in trouble? She hadn’t done anything of note recently. Even Fior had been on his best behavior since—
Oooh.
She knew exactly what this was about. Her stomach calmed a bit as she realized that it couldn’t be anything other than Ain’s meddling. It had been four days since the library, and she was so tired that she had almost forgotten about it.
Sure enough, when they finally entered the office of the headmaster, Ain was standing there in front of a sturdy, practical desk, and the headmaster was sitting in a plain chair.
She was an older woman, looking just a few years younger than grandfather. Her hair was snow white, but her eyes were the most intense, pitch black that Eist had ever seen. Grandfather had warned her about this woman. Mirabelle the Cat of no house name. She was around two hundred years old and had worked her way up at the academy from a beggar outside the doors, to a cleaner, to a staff member, and finally the headmaster. She wanted the best for everyone but was ruthlessly protective of the academy. Being summoned here was not good.
“Thank you, Romavic,” she said with a stern nod. The staff member who led her there bowed then headed out, leaving the young woman with two people that she definitely didn’t want to hang out with at the moment. “Hello, Eist of Wallenhaus. I’ve been meaning to call you here to ask after your grandfather. I hope you will forgive me that we are just meeting under these circumstances.”
“It’s alright,” Eist said, glancing over to Ain. He had stitches along his forehead and his nose still had faint yellow bruises on it. Fior really had done a number on him. “Your reputation proceeds you.”
“Good. Then I don’t need to explain how much I hate liars. I can forgive many things but trying to deceive me is a permanent cut.” She looked between the two of them and it was hard not to think that she was some sort of mystical fae or dryad masquerading as a human.
“So, you both know why you’re here. I would like to hear both sides of your stories.”
“But I already told you!” Ain objected. “She attacked me! She’s a danger to this inst—”
“I am well aware of what you spoke to me when it was just you and I here, but I want you to repeat your story, word for word, in front of Lady Eist here.”
Ah, Eist knew exactly what she was doing. By making them both speak in front of her, she could watch their faces for signs of lies or reaction. It was similar to how Eist observed people’s faces to pick up on what she couldn’t hear.
“Oh, before you start, I’d like to bring someone else in. Most are unaware of this, but I’m planning to retire in the next decade or two, so I’ve been training my replacement. He should be here in just a moment.”
Ain looked flustered that he had to hold all the vitriol inside of him, but Eist just spent the few moments looking around, trying to learn as much as she could about the woman from her surroundings.
But the decorations in the office were as succinct as she was. There was a bookshelf filled with tomes, scrolls, and books, a weapons rack with a few swords, a crossbow, and even what looked like some throwing knives.
And that was it.
No paintings, no statues, nothing. Just her cluttered desk, and the other few items.
Finally, a knock sounded on the door and someone was walking in. Eist could feel the low rumble of a grown man’s voice and craned her neck to see someone familiar.
Her curiosity was piqued, trying to place the man, and by the time he reached the desk she recognized him as the man who had stolen her necklace in the final trial she faced before earning her right to a dragon egg.
He was just as big and broad as she remembered, and even without his mask, she would recognize his particular gait and vocal thrum. “Greetings, Mirabelle. You wanted me here?”
“Yes. I think this experience will be valuable to you.” She gestured behind her. “Stand there and observe.”
It was strange to see such a willowy, aged woman command the hulking man so casually, but Eist was beginning to learn that things in the academy were quite different from the outside world. While in the rest of Rothaiche M’or, men were the head of households and women were expected to serve them and have babies, that was definitely not the case here. It seemed that the dragons’ lackadaisical attitude about different genders branched off to the rest of the academy and the council.
“Now you may begin, Ain of Hihdhean.”
The light-haired young man took a short breath and then plunged into such a rapid explanation that Eist only caught bits and pieces of it.
“I was just in the library studying when this… She engaged me, yelling. I guess she was still mad about my misguided actions at our assembly where I outed her hearing sensitivity.”
“What a polite way to say that you tried to out me as a deformed cretin to the head of the Dragon Council.”
“Please, do not interrupt,” Mirabelle said flatly. “Continue, Ain.”
Eist bit her tongue, willing herself to go silent. While she hated that she was going to have to sit there and listen to her bully spin lies about how he was the victim. And the evidence was largely on his side. He was the one wi
th the beat-up face and the bruises. She looked just fine.
“…apologized for my actions, of course, but she was incensed. With…” There was an exceeding portion that Eist couldn’t make anything out of, even with her head turned to watch his mouth.
Mirabelle held her hand out and Eist felt Ain stop speaking. “We are all aware that Lady Wallenhaus has hearing difficulty. Please speak up loudly and clearly so we can all hear the conversation.”
Huh. She certainly hadn’t expected that sort of support. Normally, people treated her as if her not hearing was her own fault, but this elderly woman was being quite matter of fact about it. Looking over at Ain, she saw his cheeks color slightly as his voice raised.
“As I was saying, it was clear that she was exceedingly jealous of my station and my healthy dragon. She accused me of getting preference and all sorts of vile things that I won’t repeat. Finally, I had enough, and I shoved past her. Perhaps I should have exited more politely, but I was frustrated with her constant insults. She then spit out a curse about my mother, and as I turned to her to tell her exactly where to shove it, she was suddenly right in front of me.
“The next thing I knew, she threw her dragon right at my chest. Of course, the little guy was upset at being manhandled, and I don’t begrudge him for clawing at me.
“But still, this shows a blatant disregard for the rules of this academy and even her dragon. Using a youngling like that as a weapon is dangerous! The little guy is already so stunted, he could have been seriously hurt. My dragon could have attacked him, or I could have injured him when I managed to pry him off. Someone like that should not have a dragon in their possession. Clearly she cannot handle the responsibility.”
Eist felt her rage surge upward at that. It was one thing to want to get her punished or kicked out before she had a dragon, it was another thing entirely to get Fior removed from her charge after they had bonded for over a month! This young man was truly set on trying to ruin her life.