Dragon Kin: Jae & Fendellen

by Audrey Faye

  She swallowed. ::I would be honored to work with the littles.::

  Fendellen snorted. ::I’ll remind you of that when one of them has escaped for the hundredth time in a day.::

  Jae giggled and looked into Squirt’s reckless, delighted eyes. ::You can’t be much more work than a baby goat.:: They could climb anything and ate everything.

  And looking after them wasn’t nearly this much fun.

  Squirt wobbled in the sky, and three sets of wings moved to steady the air around her.

  ::We’re nearly back at the village.:: Fendellen rose slightly in the sky. ::Would you like me to scoop her up for the landing?::

  Something warm and proud rose in Jae’s heart. ::No. I can do it.:: She reached out, waiting for Squirt to notice before she gathered the exhausted small flier into her chest.

  Delighting in her useful wings and hands.

  Chapter 12

  Fendellen nosed in through the heavy flaps that kept the nursery closed off from the winter cold. She exhaled into the dim and nodded at the open eye of the yellow dragon keeping watch over his charges. She glanced at the nest where three bodies slept, tangled together in one colorful pile. ::How is Squirt?::

  ::Tired.::

  That was a word that covered many possibilities, but the old dragon didn’t sound worried. ::She flew quite the distance today. Even with others holding her air steady, it was quite the feat for one newly hatched.::

  ::So everyone keeps telling her.:: Kis snorted wryly. ::Her head will be bigger than her body soon, and she won’t be able to get off the ground.::

  No words could match the joy of a flight in the sky, but she would not remind the old warrior of that. Once, he would have been the skilled flier on the wings of the newest little testing their wings. Instead, he stayed on the ground as others kept his charges safe.

  ::Your kin did well. Afran tells me she has a sense for the air that he hasn’t seen since you took to your wings.::

  That was even higher praise than he had given to Jae—and it wasn’t wrong. ::She has a feel. One that will only grow as she gains in confidence.::

  Kis adjusted his head so he gazed on her with two eyes. ::That’s why you’re here.::

  It was, and it was a little disturbing how easily he still read her thoughts. Queens required privacy.

  ::You’re not queen yet.::

  It was good to have someone to remind her of that. Fendellen made her way over to the curve in the wall that had always seemed made just for her and nestled into a ball. Dragon or not, she appreciated the warmth, and a chance to let her thoughts bubble up in peace.

  Kis waited silently, just as he’d done when she was a little trying to squirm her way around something difficult. She looked over at his current batch of babies, sound asleep and not yet appreciating just how carefully they were watched and nurtured, and when it was time, pushed out of the nest. Or tucked back into one if they took a headlong flight early, depending on their personality.

  Jae wasn’t the headlong type. Not unless a Dragon Star was bossing her around, anyhow. ::How do you know when it’s time?::

  Kis followed her gaze to the hatchlings. He didn’t ask her what she meant. ::You will know. Your head will know, and your wisdom.:: He paused. ::Your heart might need some help to get there.::

  Her heart squeezed. He had sent forth so many from the nursery, but he would shake off her sympathy, so she didn’t offer it. ::Jae is grown in some ways, but not in others.::

  ::Perhaps.:: He was quiet a while, his eyes bright in the comforting dim. ::You did well, these past two days. She is finding her place in the village, as you intended.::

  Keeping anything a secret from the dragon who knew her best was impossible. ::Irin had some thoughts. I just dropped a few words in a few ears.:: Ears that would help Jae understand just how different this village was from the one she grew up in. ::Squirt wasn’t part of the plan.::

  One of the nestlings stirred and Kis rumbled softly, lulling them back to sleep. ::She needed to feel acceptance from the humans and elves first. And from those who would be her friends.::

  She was glad he thought so. Future queens learned not to second-guess their decisions, but it had been tempting to coddle Jae in the safe embrace of the dragons, where her wings were nothing but attraction.

  ::You let her stand on her own. Meet the village on her own terms. That was well done.::

  The warm feeling in her ribs expanded. Kis handed out compliments even more rarely than Afran. ::She wouldn’t have trusted the acceptance of the dragons while she still expected the village to be full of those who would fear her.::

  ::You made the right choice rather than the easy one. It won’t be the last time that is required of you.::

  It wasn’t, and she was here contemplating the next time. ::She’s not ready to know I will be queen. Or that we’re marked.:: Jae had been so very flustered by all the gratitude when she’d landed with Squirt in her arms.

  Kis exhaled slowly. Listening.

  Fendellen said the hardest part. ::Jae has spent her whole life wishing to be ordinary.::

  ::We don’t always get what we wish for.:: The words came without emotion, but Fendellen felt them anyhow. ::She does not have the luxury of being ordinary. She is needed.::

  Fendellen blew quiet ripples into the nursery air. ::I know.::

  ::She learns quickly. She did not cower today, or hide her wings.::

  Fendellen blinked.

  ::The kitchen roof is not so far from here. Young Kellan got wind of your schemes and bade me to watch.::

  Big, watching yellow heads were hard to hide, but she didn’t bother to ask how he’d done it. Or if that had somehow aided Squirt in her escape. None of them had expected the small purple hatchling to fly until spring at the very earliest.

  ::Irin was watching her.:: Kis sounded amused. ::She shot between his legs when he came in with the breakfast bowls.::

  A moment not at all funny when it happened, but one that would gain in humor with each retelling. ::It’s been a long time since a hatchling got the jump on him.::

  Fondness. ::You might have been the last.::

  She’d never gotten very far. What Irin couldn’t see coming, his dragon always did. Which is why she was about to make a request that would pain him. ::I’m going to hold a flying class.::

  ::Good.::

  She knew his opinions on flight skills. They had kept him and his kin alive—and perhaps thrust him into the middle of the battle, but knowing his sense of honor, he would have been there anyhow. ::I’m not going to teach it. Not alone, anyhow.::

  ::Ah.:: A long pause, and then a crisp nod. ::That is wise. You will introduce her to your dragons as a leader. A teacher. Which is not so very different from being kin to a queen.::

  And it would provide a decent cover story for the deference they paid their future queen as a matter of due. ::Perhaps she needs more time with the villagers first.::

  Kis said nothing, merely blinking slowly in the dim.

  An old warrior who knew better than to second-guess one who would be queen. Always, he made her find the firm footing under her own feet and good air currents under her wings. Fendellen shook her head as she found them. ::No. It is time for her to meet the dragons. To begin to understand who they are.:: The kin of a queen would also have a bond with every dragon. Or so they believed. No queen in living memory had chosen a kin.

  A low rumble. The closest Kis ever came to approval. ::It will do her good.::

  Fendellen tilted her head. Kis often saw much and said little. ::Why do you think so?::

  His breath blew into the nursery, fanning the nestlings with warm heat. ::Because they won’t think of her as a human with wings.::

  Fendellen let her eyelids fall and rise in a slow blink. ::They won’t?::

  ::No.:: He blew warm air over his sleeping charges again. ::She can fly as well or better than any of them. An hour in the sky, and they’ll think of her as a dragon with a few missing scales.::

  The r
ightness of that—and the potential hilarity—caught Fendellen’s breath.

  ::You seek to protect her,:: Kis said quietly. ::But also see her. She is star chosen and queen bonded. There are depths to her, strengths we have only begun to see. Be careful that it is not you who ends up holding her back.::

  Chapter 13

  Jae landed on the rock ledge beside the ice-blue dragon, giving all her attention to getting her feet gracefully on the ground, mostly so she could ignore the dozens of eyes watching the two of them.

  She wouldn’t hide.

  Not today. She lowered her wings, but left them hanging wide on her back. She was wearing the new tunic and leggings Alonia had worked so hard on, sewn from the softest, light-blue wool and embroidered with silver thread that matched her feathers. The tunic had a wide slit up the leg, but draped almost to her ankles, and it was the single most beautiful thing Jae had ever seen, much less worn.

  She would not hide.

  Not while she wore such beautiful clothing made by the hands of a friend, and decorations in her wings, tiny beads that clipped on and caught the light and insisted that she be proud of her feathers because they were beautiful too.

  Just getting dressed this morning had been a tangle of emotions, and she was quite sure that journey wasn’t over.

  ::You do them honor with your finery.::

  Jae glanced over at the dragon who was somehow hers, but there was no scorn in Fendellen’s voice. No sarcasm. ::My friends have been so kind to me.:: She wished they could see this.

  ::You think they aren’t here, child?::

  This was a new voice. Jae gaped as a white dragon came up beside her. Old—older than Gran, even. So old that her skin shone like snow about to melt and reveal what lived underneath.

  Old, and full of power.

  Jae had a sudden urge to fall to her knees, even though she had no idea who the new arrival was.

  ::That would not be amiss,:: Fendellen said quietly. ::Elhen is our queen.::

  A life spent in the high mountains did not prepare anyone to meet royalty. Jae knew there was something known as a curtsy, but she had no earthly idea how to form her body into one. So she turned to the queen. She would pay her respects in the way of the mountains. She dipped her head, in the way of a small plant in a stiff wind. ::May there always be sun to warm you through, my lady.::

  “That’s a lovely greeting, and a welcome one on such a cold day.”

  Jae dared a glance up, but the queen didn’t look chilled by the temperatures. Dragons would do well in the high country.

  Elhen nodded regally. “This isn’t an official appearance. I heard word there was to be a flying lesson today, and that it would be worth watching.”

  Jae’s knees turned to springmelt.

  ::Steady.:: Fendellen’s nose touched her shoulder. ::In her day, she was a very fine flier. She is here to watch, and perhaps to remember her youth a little. Not to judge.::

  It was so very hard to hold on to the idea that flying was a considered a good thing, worthy of attention and praise. Her conviction kept trying to slip away, a wisp of fog in a stiff breeze.

  ::There are plenty of stiff breezes this morning.:: Fendellen spread her wings. ::Come. Let’s show them what those feathers of yours can do.::

  Jae had no idea what that meant, but she followed the ice-blue dragon up into the sky. They weren’t alone. Almost every dragon on the ground rose into the air, leaving Elhen on the cliff watching, two dragons flanking her that Jae hadn’t even noticed.

  ::Her guardians.::

  Jae twisted around, looking for the enormous gray-black dragon that went with the familiar voice. She spied Afran and tried to avoid looking too closely at the dozens of others in the sky.

  ::Dragons.:: Fendellen’s voice rang with command. ::Form on me. I promised the old man a flyover, and we would do well to get to it before he gets cranky and goes back inside to eat his morning stew.::

  Kis. Jae had heard the stories. He would watch them—and he would yearn.

  ::Yes.:: Fendellen turned in the air, hovering. ::Beside me, sweet one. You don’t belong way back there. It’s your tricks the rest will be copying.::

  Jae’s eyes widened. ::I don’t have tricks.::

  ::You do. And I have a bet going with Elhen that you can make at least one dragon fall out of the sky today, so I want your very best ones.::

  Jae wasn’t sure whether to be more overwhelmed by the idea of falling dragons or being kin to someone who made bets with royalty. By the time she gave up trying to decide, she was somehow flying at Fendellen’s wing tip, a long stream of dragons forming up behind them in the sky.

  The ice-blue dragon flew in a lazy circle, tipping her wings at the queen watching below.

  Jae dipped her head under her wing and peeked at the line, which was far from the ragged mess it had been before. She could see Afran at the back, a small peach-pink dragon at his side. Lotus. With no Sapphire, which was probably good. Jae had heard some of those stories too, and they generally involved Sapphire ruefully rubbing her backside as she told them.

  ::A trick, youngling. Something that will look impressive from the ground.::

  Nothing came to Jae’s dazed mind—until she thought of the eagles. Watching them dive had often made her heart stop.

  ::Perhaps something a little less likely to put a dragon through a rondo roof.:: Fendellen sounded highly amused.

  Jae gulped, her cheeks reddening. Then an entirely different thought came to her. Not eagles this time. Ants, and the intricate patterns they sometimes made when they swarmed. She looked over at Fendellen. ::If I fly a pattern, can you copy me on that side?::

  ::If I can’t, I’ll lose my title as the finest flier in the sky.:: The ice-blue dragon didn’t sound worried. ::And remember, we’re all covered in scales. You’re not. Don’t let one of these miscreants cause you harm.::

  There was a shudder all the way down the long line in the sky. One that made Jae quite certain, for reasons she didn’t really understand, that no harm would come to her this day.

  Not that she had been worried. She was in the sky with dragons, the sun glinting off the stitching of her tunic and the jewels in her feathers, and none of this felt real at all. Except that it did. It felt like something deep inside her had finally been born, and she was pretty sure her eyes looked very much like Squirt’s on her maiden flight.

  Full of pure joy.

  She flipped over onto her back and zoomed in an undulating circle, picking up speed so the fliers at the back wouldn’t have to move too slowly. Fendellen matched her perfectly, mirroring her flight across an invisible line in the sky. Jae made the circle big enough to loop in behind Afran and Lotus, the enormous dragon just as agile as the much smaller one beside him—and far more self-contained.

  Jae dipped underneath the line, holding in tight formation just below the other dragons for a moment, and then she split and angled wide and straight up, a climb as steep as she could make it.

  She heard the bugling behind her. A dragon horde, ready to charge.

  ::Ignore them.:: Fendellen arced up gracefully in the sky, mirroring her flight. ::They’re just making sure Kis is awake.::

  Kis and anyone else within a full day’s journey. Dragons were not quiet, and some of the villagers might still be trying to sleep. Perhaps a human with wings should keep the fliers a little more occupied and a lot less noisy. Jae smiled into the stiff winter wind and angled her wing tips, doing a slow spin as she climbed.

  There were several grunts and screeches from the dragons on her heels, and more than one in Fendellen’s train fell out of line. Jae stiffened and stopped her spin. She hadn’t meant to cause trouble.

  ::That’s exactly what I meant for you to do.:: Fendellen sounded stern, like the village teacher when someone might be thinking about misbehaving. ::It’s not trouble. It will give them something to strive for. And some are managing just fine.::

  Jae looked over to discover that the ice-blue dragon had not stopped her s
pin as she climbed—and some of the dragons behind her were indeed managing. The ones that weren’t circled and came up near the end, closer to Afran.

  There was another bugle from beneath her. An impatient one this time.

  Jae laughed. Apparently dragons were just small children with wings and scales.

  ::And fire breath,:: Fendellen added, clearly amused.

  Jae winced and switched to a spiraling climb instead, one that let her build up some speed and hopefully avoided scorched wings. She kept it looping and big, delighting in the buffeting of the winds and watching the dragons below. They were magnificent, their scales shining in the sun as they formed a magical tunnel in the sky.

  She grinned, positioned herself carefully over the middle of the tunnel, and tucked her wings in, leaving only the tips for flying. Then she dropped down inside the spiral—not as fast as a dive, but fast enough to send her heart racing. She whooped as she fell, just like the children of the mountains did when they raced down the slides of ice.

  Bugling answered her from every direction, including right above her head.

  ::Now would be a bad time to stop.:: Fendellen sounded excited and a little short of breath. ::There would be a pileup.::

  Jae giggled. That happened on the ice slides too. She tucked into a ball and flipped over, her head pointing straight at the ground. Then she zoomed out the bottom of the tunnel and into the bright sky.

  Just in time to get out of the way of the chaos.

  Dragons ran into each other like rocks tumbling down a steep hill, some falling headfirst, some tail first, and some spinning off to try to find their bearings in less-occupied skies.

  Jae squeaked and pulled in a wing as a green dragon hurtled past, clearly not at all sure which way was up.

  Then there was an ice-blue dragon at her side, and probably more usefully, a huge dark-gray bulk right over her head. Protecting her, just like they had done with Squirt.

  Fendellen trumpeted, a sound that had no words but was clearly an order.