Talking To Dragons

by Patricia C. Wrede

  “Mother suggested it,” I said. I looked at Shiara. “But I thought you hadn’t made up your mind yet.”

  “I just decided,” Shiara said. “Home is boring, and this way I can learn things, and maybe even stop having to be polite to get my magic to work.”

  I suspected Shiara was more interested in not having to be polite than she was in learning things, but I didn’t say so. “I’m glad you’re going to be staying,” I said instead.

  “You are?” Suz said skeptically. He peered up at me. “Why, you really are! How amazing.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that, but fortunately I didn’t have time to think about it. Father and Mother and Kazul all stood up just then and everyone else got very quiet. Father looked around for a moment, smiled, and started speaking.

  First he thanked everyone for coming to help with the wizards, and then he introduced Mother formally as “my wife, Cimorene.” All the dragons and elves and other people shouted and applauded; the din was tremendous. Then he introduced me, and I had to stand up and be clapped at. After that, Kazul said that the dragons were pleased to be of assistance, and everyone sat down and started talking again. The whole thing didn’t take very much time, which surprised me. I’d thought speeches at feasts were supposed to be longer.

  Even with short speeches, the feast lasted longer than I expected. Shiara left after a while, to go find Nightwitch and talk to the little dragon. I stayed at the table. I didn’t have much choice; every time I tried to get up, someone new would pounce on me and start asking questions. I got very tired of it after a while, but I couldn’t seem to get away. I was glad when it was finally over.

  The next few days were a little hectic, but then the elves and dragons who’d been in the battle went home and things started to settle down a little. Morwen and Telemain were almost the last to leave, because of Telemain’s shoulder. Morwen had to stay to take care of it, and she wouldn’t let Telemain go anywhere until he was well.

  “It’s simply ridiculous,” Telemain grumbled at breakfast on the third morning after the battle. “I am quite capable of traveling with my arm in a sling.”

  “Yes, and the first time you ran across a slowstone or a pool of transformation-water you’d take your arm out of the sling and start tinkering with it,” Morwen said. “Which would not be good for that shoulder.”

  Telemain glared at her. “I disagree.”

  “You may disagree all you wish, but you aren’t leaving the castle for another two days,” Morwen said. She picked up a basket of muffins, took one, and passed the rest to Mother.

  “Two days!”

  Mother raised an eyebrow. “Is our hospitality unwelcome?”

  “No, of course not, but... Cimorene, I have a tremendous amount to do if I’m to be ready for the wedding in time.”

  I hadn’t heard about any weddings being planned, but I was carefully not looking at Shiara anyway. Then Father looked up.

  “Wedding?” he said.

  Morwen smiled. “Telemain and I are getting married.”

  Shiara and Father and I all said, “What!?” at the same time, but we were nearly drowned out by a chorus of startled meows from Morwen’s cats.

  “Yes, married,” Morwen said to one of them. “And it has nothing to do with you, so you may as well be quiet and accept it.”

  The cats made unhappy noises for another minute, until Morwen frowned at them. Then they all got up and went over to a corner of the room, where they sat muttering to each other with their tails twitching. Morwen watched for a moment before she nodded and turned back to the table. “They’ll get used to the idea,” she said.

  “Um, congratulations to both of you,” I said.

  Father was looking at Mother. “Cimorene, did you know about this?”

  “Not exactly,” Mother said, and smiled.

  “I see.” Father shook his head. “Well, congratulations.”

  “Thank you,” Telemain said. He started to reach for a plate of sausages with his bad arm, and Morwen stopped him.

  Two days later, Morwen announced that Telemain’s arm was well enough for him to travel. She promised to invite all of us to the wedding, even the dragons, and then she and Telemain left the castle, followed by a string of disapproving cats.

  Shiara and Kazul were the last to leave. I was a little taken aback when I heard. It hadn’t occurred to me that Kazul lived in the Mountains of Morning, and that if Shiara was going to be Kazul’s Princess, she would have to live there, too. I didn’t say anything about it, though; I felt too silly for not having realized it before.

  Father and Mother and I went out to see them off. Mother gave Shiara some advice about princessing, and Father told her that if she was going to glare at dragons, she’d have to learn to glare politely. Then they both went to talk to Kazul.

  Shiara looked at me.

  “I’m beginning to wonder whether I really want to do this or not,” she said. “Does he really expect me to practice glaring at people?”

  “No, just at dragons,” I said. “If he wanted you to glare at everyone, he would have said so.”

  “Well, I think it’s— Nightwitch!” Shiara bent to retrieve the kitten, who had been investigating one of Shiara’s bundles a little too vigorously.

  “Where did you get all of this, anyway?” I asked as she straightened up. There were at least three bundles in the heap Nightwitch had been climbing, and I knew Shiara hadn’t had any of them when we’d arrived at the castle.

  “Morwen gave me that one, and Cimorene gave me the others,” Shiara said. “She said I would need them if I was going to live with Kazul. I don’t even know what’s in all of them yet.”

  “Oh.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say because just then I realized how much I was going to miss having Shiara around. The Mountains of Morning weren’t exactly close to the castle, and I didn’t think Kazul would be interested in flying back and forth every day.

  Shiara frowned. “What’s the matter with you?”

  “I was just wishing you were going to be living a little closer to the castle,” I said.

  “I don’t see why. I’m going to have to come here a lot anyway, at least until you get that stupid politeness spell off of me so I can use my fire-magic. So what difference does it make? I’m the one who has to do all the traveling back and forth.” Shiara looked toward Kazul. “I think they’re ready to go. Come on, Daystar.”

  She picked up one of the bundles and started walking. I didn’t say anything, but I felt a lot happier than I had a few minutes earlier. Getting rid of that spell didn’t sound easy, and until it was gone Shiara would have to spend quite a bit of time at the castle. I was sure that if I had enough time, I could think of some reason for her to keep visiting after the spell was gone, and even if I couldn’t, Mother would be able to. Smiling, I picked up the other two bundles and started after Shiara.