by K. E. Young
Mero's face went blank but I could feel a sadness through our bond. "Not all children born to dragonborn parents manifest a dragon form."
He turned his eyes back to me, his gaze intense. "The number of female dragonborn who manifest has dwindled since losing the Shurshu when the temple was destroyed. The last female to manifest a dragon form died hundreds of years ago."
I could see why he was sad, all those poor dragons unable to come out and fly. "Are there other reasons for a dragonborn child to not be able to manifest a dragon?"
He sighed. "The others are of Drakkeni stock, but not dragonborn. Remember, dragonborn have two souls. One is human and the other dragon. If a child is born without magic among Drakkeni, then they don't carry a second soul either. Those are the Nulls. We still consider them kin but they cannot manifest a dragon form. Nulls often either move to Akkad or are sent there by their parents. Sebas' family comes from such beginnings. It's one reason they chose him for the position. He is of Drakkeni stock specifically, not just Aria Atlani.
I'd been focusing on what Mero had to say so I didn't notice the whispers making the rounds until Takas came right out and asked Mero if they could watch my testing. Every face at the table looked hopeful, like a bunch of kids wanting to know if it was time to open Christmas presents. Mero seemed taken aback but agreed that they could watch. "If I say 'don't look' I will eviscerate anyone who doesn't cover their eyes immediately! Unless Kendra gets to you first, then I'll just send my condolences to your family and have 'death by stupidity' noted in the logs. Have I made myself clear?"
The household grinned back at him as they agreed. The rest of lunch was as raucous as it had been on previous days. With the news spreading to the other tables, I expected that the crowd would be large. Being the center of attention always made me nervous. Not what I needed for my first attempt at changing into a dragon when I had no clue what to do. No pressure.
"How will you verify whether I'm dragonkin?"
"The same way we do our young males. Someone who has a strong bond with the candidate will send his own dragon into the youngling's mind to call the dragon forth. Usually it's a relative but this time, it will be me.
"Shifting can be tricky. Occasionally, a youngling with a particularly strong link to his dragon will learn to do it on his own without help, but things can go wrong. It's safest if a mentor shows you how to do it and the only way to do that is mind to mind. Since mind speaking is a dragon skill rather than a human one, it needs to be my dragon form that does it. We'll do it in the practice yard so that there's room for both of us when we shift." He waved his hand in the general direction of the practice yard, took a sip, and set the cup down.
"There is one benefit to all this that I'm not sure anyone has mentioned to you yet and of which I hope to take full advantage." He gave a puckish grin as he patted his knee. "Changing to and from your dragon form speeds the healing of certain injuries or even erases them. It's possible you'll come out of the change with your ankle and bruises healed. The ability to change also delays the aging process somewhat. No one knows why but the healers say they can see the changes at the level of the tiniest structures of the human body. The trick is making a special effort to remember how it felt before your injury."
It smacked of that rabbit-hole I had avoided the other day, or was it only yesterday? Just another thing I needed to look into later when I wasn't getting a firehose in the face. Unfortunately, there was a limit to how much I could keep on that mental list of "stuff to look at later' or juggle in my head. At some point, I would start dropping things. Soon. I needed to write these things down. "I can look into it later I suppose. Anything I need to know beforehand?"
"No. I'll teach you to fly later. The first change is draining and you won't have any energy left over to try. It's only a problem the first time though, after that, the energy cost is negligible unless you're changing many times rapidly in a short time. The drain comes from tearing down a wall between your human form and your dragon form. The dragon form has been forming and growing in a slice of ahaynu."
At my quizzical expression, he elaborated. "I told you about ahaynu, remember? Otherwhere. Anyway, that bit of ahaynu is where your human body goes when you take dragon form. The channel between the two spaces is small until your first change. That's why we do this when the candidate is young. Opening the channel wide enough to pass the body of an adult dragon is a lot more draining than opening it wide enough for a half grown dragon."
After lunch, we all trooped out to the practice yard. Two of the larger warriors carried Mero out in his dining room chair. A move he protested but was helpless to prevent. All of the dragonlords trooped out as well followed by a crowd of other dark-haired people from the other households.
When we got to the yard, Mero pulled himself out of the chair and waved at them to take it away. He motioned me to a spot opposite him then a warping like heat shimmers enveloped him, expanded, twisted hard, and faded to his dragon form. During this, the other dragonlords had also shifted and most took up perches on the rooflines around the yard. Only Geran was actually in the yard with us in all his red, gold, and black glory, sitting upright on his haunches with his tail wrapped around his feet like a cat. The crowd packed the edges of the yard.
This was the first time I had seen Mero in his dragon form. He was about 70 feet long with an even wider wingspan. He was a rich blue-green all over with a shading of metallic gold over the tip of each scale as if gilded, heavier on his back, sides and tail, and lighter everywhere else. The leading edges of his wings and along the vanes picked out more heavily in gold. His eyes were the same intense green they were in his human form. Ridged horns on either side of the top of his head swept back and up like a waterbuck's. The horns and claws were a shiny black. He was the most gorgeous thing I had ever seen. He looked familiar though.
As I looked around at the other dragons perched around the yard, it occurred to me that Dantalion was right. Mero was indeed the dragon on my pendant. I lifted my pendant to double check. Sure enough, the likeness I had carved might have been from a photo, down to the last scale. It sent a chill up my spine.
Mero coughed to get my attention. He had crouched down so his head was on a level with my own and stared intently into my eyes. I felt frozen. After a few seconds, I felt a tickle in my head and followed by whispering. Gradually, the voice became clearer, calling to me, and the outside world of the practice yard faded away. I began to feel a tugging at the center of my inner self and I watched in awe as my inner demon took over and spread her wings. A moment of dizzying disorientation and feral joy and the entire world changed.
I found myself in the practice yard with a view from a height I had never experienced before. Everyone was cheering, everything looked smaller, and Mero didn't look as imposing as he had. The dragons on the rooftops roared a welcome to their ranks. I looked down at myself and saw bright metallic gold scales that deepened to sable brown on my paws. Looking over my shoulder, the scales along my sides and back were the same bright gold except tipped with purest emerald green with a scattering of brilliant red scales. The leading edges and vanes of my wings were a deep metallic sable brown that shaded through deep gold to the bright gold of the rest of me.
A deep voice I didn't recognize entered my mind. "Welcome sister!"
"I was right. You are beautiful." A deeper version of Mero's voice whispered. His head stroked my own and I reveled in the entrancing sensation. It wasn't like any sensation I'd ever felt as a human.
"Holy crap! Guess you were right about me being a dragon too."
"Indeed. Remember, you'll be tired and it comes on fast. The first transition burns an enormous amount of energy. It gets easier after this though. To transform back, focus on how you were before. Make sure you remember your clothes. If you don't, they won't come back with the transformation. You may eventually get them back, but once you lose the initial tether, it's hard to locate them again."
"That's why you told them to pay att
ention if you said 'cover your eyes'." I wish he had mentioned the possibility before. I would have insisted on doing without the audience.
"Of course. You are my Chosen. I don't want to share your charms, even with my own household. Are you ready to try transforming back? I'll be here to help you."
I nodded and focused on how I felt before the change, including clothing, jewelry, even my hairstyle. Just as I had it all in my head, I felt a click, like something snapping into place, and I was back in another wave of disorientation. I looked down at myself and patted my hair and throat to verify that my hair stick and necklace were where I remembered them.
Mero, once again back to normal, hopped over and gathered me into his arms in an ecstatic hug. He was so happy that I decided not to remind him about the cracked ribs, no matter how much it hurt, although they didn't hurt as much as I expected. He grinned at Koris as he approached.
"Koris, please inform the kitchen we have another dragon at court and are celebrating tonight."
"With pleasure, my lord! Congratulations, my lady! You make a lovely dragon, much prettier than this fellow."
"I agree with you completely, Koris. She's stunningly beautiful in either form. I didn't expect four colors. That number of colors on a dragon is something we haven't seen in a very long time. Three colors denote royalty. Four…"
"Does this mean I'm royalty then?" The look in his eyes gave me the answer before he even opened his mouth. I also saw something I hadn't expected, uncertainty and doubt.
Mero's smile was reassuring. "I'm sure that Geran will see it that way. Your lineage in your old world, the crown you inherited from your grandmother, none of it matters. Here, you are a dragon of four colors and that makes all the difference. He'll come to the same conclusion I did. Royalty. You even outrank Geran now."
Ah. Mero's words before the reception about rank repeated themselves in my mind. This was what he meant. "So was he the other one talking to me? I recognized your voice but not the other one."
"Other voice?"
"Yes, it sounded like the rocks themselves were talking. It said 'Welcome sister.'"
"He didn't waste any time at all. Geran is the only one here whose mind voice is that deep. By calling you sister, he acknowledges your royal blood. It's official now." His voice had firmed and the uncertainty had faded.
"Oh. Not sure I like that idea."
Mero rested his forehead against mine. "We'll manage. Things are about to get a great deal more complicated though. If we could have waited until after the wedding, it would have been simpler. As a dragonlord of high rank, you have the right to a household of your own with sigil, estates, warriors under your command, and all it entails. It will take hard work to sort it all out before the wedding."
I got a sinking feeling. All this time, I hoped that I could just live my life with Mero and do my job. Now the situation was more complicated. "Oh, crap. I won't have time to finish the reports, will I? At least the sigil part is easy."
Mero laughed. "The reports can wait. However, perhaps we should use your dragon instead of mine."
I waved my hand. That particular problem just wasn't that important. "Details, details. Do you think we can get a nap in before dinner? You were right about me getting tired." I was light-headed and it was getting worse.
"That's normal the first time. You'll hardly notice it from now on unless you transition many times rapidly. Meanwhile, let's get you to bed."
Geran's voice interrupted. "Excellent idea Mero. She must rest. Dinner for you two will be in the court dining hall. We need to introduce Kendra to the court in her new role. Does she have any court gowns that aren't in your colors?"
Mero looked at me, hesitating. I knew he was thinking of the sari I had modeled for him. "I have one in green and brown with gold embroidery. It's not the right green but it should be close enough for now. I should warn you, it's from my original world. It's nothing like the ones here."
Geran's grin was positively evil. "Well, neither are you so it's only appropriate. Mero, get her up to her room, she must rest."
"My room." Mero looked truculent.
"Mero…" His rebelliousness obviously shocked Geran.
"My dragon won't let me sleep if she isn't there. He won't shut up, he just keeps calling for her. Besides, somehow a bond has already formed. I'm moving her to my rooms now. I'm not waiting. Now that my dragon has met his mate in person he'll be even worse."
Geran looked thoughtful. "He's imprinted then?" Mero just nodded and Geran's face lightened. "Well, that's all there is to it then. The marriage is just a technicality to a true mating. It happened so fast I was sure you were using her for some purpose, a political marriage. It looks like I was wrong." His warm smile evinced joyous relief. "I'm glad, cousin. Now get your mate to bed she looks like she's about to pass out."
He wasn't kidding, I was having a tough time focusing, and I was sagging against Mero's chest. Dantalion picked me up and I watched the household getting Mero back to his dining chair, now augmented by staves from the armory into a carry chair. We then trooped up to Mero's quarters. I fell asleep along the way, only rousing a little when they removed my boots and tucked me in.
Chapter 11
Day 7: 45th Day of Sanctuary, 3866
Anis woke me in time to dress for dinner. She reminded me that Mero and I would dine with the court rather than with the households. As if, I could forget. She then informed me she had moved my belongings into Mero's quarters permanently while I slept.
I had already showered and towel dried my hair by the time Mero came in, leaning on a cane. "Is it possible to get the jewelry from the vault? There are items that goes with the dress." He nodded and limped back out into the hallway where I could hear him talking to Koris. He came back after a moment and just held me for a time with an unhappy expression. "What's wrong?"
He rested his chin on my head. "The last time Geran forced me to dine with the court was when I took my official position. I hated it, and I dread doing it now."
Mero had all the symptoms of an allergy to protocol. I couldn't blame him. The court I had seen at the reception concerned me. Sebas' words in the hall hadn't been comforting. "At least you'll have me there with you."
"If they let us sit together. They probably won't." Defeat threaded his voice.
My dragon bristled. No. I hated politics and I would not put up with it today. This day, they would play by my rules or I wouldn't play at all. "Then I will have to insist. I can get mean when people try to tell me what to do."
He chuckled. "I've noticed that about you. It best not to argue with them though."
Clearly, he didn't understand that I was serious. "Mero, I wouldn't argue, I would just walk away. My role in this court is not up to them. I don't need them and I don't particularly care if they like me or not. If they don't like my attitude, then they don't have to talk to me. I am not one of their little fluff-brained ladies and I will remind them of that if I must. I will not allow them to make me less, nor will I allow disrespect. This is not their court, it's Geran's, and I think it's past time they figure that out."
Mero blinked down at me for a minute. "You're right. I let my dislike give them power."
I had been thinking about Sebas' words. "You know what I think? I think Geran's giving them such free reign has left them with the impression they have power and that it is their right to it. I think he needs to stomp on them. It's like punishing a child. When they push the boundaries too far, it is necessary to remind them there are consequences. As it is, there are two courts here and they don't mesh. These people survived and kept their power under the Arboren. I have to wonder what they're willing to do to regain what was once theirs because they definitely want it back. No one ever wants to let go of power, even if it's not theirs anymore or it's the right thing to do."
Mero looked troubled at this. "I'll think on that. Meanwhile, try not to make too much trouble tonight. Smack their hand figuratively if it's warranted though." He kissed me thoroughl
y then headed into the bathroom to get ready.
I put on the blouse and petticoat I had chosen. Unlike the blouse I had used to model for Mero before, this one matched the sari and went almost to my waist so it shouldn't cause too much of a riot. It also dipped low in back so it fit more comfortably across my shoulders. I was wrapping myself up in the sari when Mero exited. I collected another kiss and finished dressing.
When I had collected my inheritance, I also collected the sandals I always wore with the saris. They were plain brown leather flat soled sandals I had decorated with little brass bells. I hadn't worn them since high school but they still fit and were in good condition. They weren't really court fashion, but the best I had. The bells were a nice touch.
Koris came in with the chest as I was trying to decide what to do with my hair. I unlocked it and pulled out the jewelry I wanted to wear. It was gaudy and heavy but it went with the sari. It was an Indian wedding jewelry set of gold, garnets, and pearls with green enamel details, and it weighed a ton. The Sari itself was bottle green and sable brown silk embroidered in gold with glass and garnet beads.
Mero came out of the dressing room about then. This time he wore tight black velvet pants and a whiskey colored crushed velvet tunic bordered with embroidered teal satin. It was simple but looked very nice on him. The pants were my favorite part. I hoped that they would let us sit next to each other so I could pet them.
Rather than pull his hair back in its usual ponytail, he had braided it tightly. Combined with his grim expression, it gave him a severe look, but suited him more than I expected. Despite the velvet, he didn't look like anyone you wanted to mess with. I watched as he put on a heavy gold torc with onyx-studded finials.
Looking at him, I finally decided what to do with my hair and braided it into a loose rope that trailed down my back. He seemed to appreciate how it turned out though. I dove back into the chest for most of the rest of the wedding set. The hair decorations were heavy and pulled a little but got the point across nicely. It was too bad I couldn't wear the nose ring.
