Fledgling

by Tabatha Palomo

Chapter Twenty Two

  She couldn’t sleep, so she brewed a cup of heavily caffeinated tea and went to work. She put away the books she had catalogued, wiped down every surface in the kitchen, and put away her things in the corner of the reader room. She made it so that it looked like a presentable shop, not the mix of home and business that it had been.

  “What time is it?” Kai asked as he came down the steps. It was rare that she woke before him.

  She looked at the intricate clock hanging on the wall, “It’s only eight.”

  “I overslept,” he yawned, running a hand through his cow licked hair. Austin was just glad that he slept well, since he usually stayed up so late. She put away the last book in her hands –part of the pile that had once accumulated on top of the kitchen table- and smiled, “You seem…better.”

  He was genuinely concerned for her, probably hoping that she wouldn’t revert to the state that she had been in yesterday. She opened her mouth to spill everything, from Aiden coming in through her window to everything they had talked about.

  Then she remembered Aiden covering her mouth so that she wouldn’t wake Kai. He wanted to keep their friendship a secret. She closed her mouth.

  She shrugged, “I realized that it won’t be too bad having you for a mentor.”

  “Well.” Kai said, but worry was still evident in his pleased tone. He took the dishrag from her and put his other hand on her arm. Electricity, a familiar shock, ran through her skin as he used his power, “Austin, how long did you sleep last night? You’re fatigued.”

  “One hour? Two?” she rolled her eyes, “You worry too much, Kai Davids.”

  “You give me reason to worry,” he poured himself a cup of the tea she had brewed. She watched as he smiled at the taste.

  She saw through his actions, knew that it still wasn’t up to his standards, and chose not to comment on it, “What are we doing today?”

  “A tour of Anathaem. It is a mentor’s job to show his Fledgling around, and I doubt anyone has done that with you yet,” Kai set his cup down, tugging at Austin’s shirt, “Is that warm enough?”

  “I have a jacket,” she said, thinking that the tour sounded pretty boring. What was there to see, really? She had become familiar with the stretch of streets from the training grounds to Kai’s shop and Aiden had taken her on that walk; she was sure that the rest of Affelil would look the same.

  “Is it warm?” Kai pressed. She shrugged. It wasn’t really made for warmth, “I’ll take you to buy a new jacket, and then we’ll tour the city.”

  “I don’t need a new-“ she started, her voice heavy with complaint. She didn’t like shopping. Demitri had been buying her coats for her for as long as she could remember.

  “Yes you do, and let me spoil you,” he said, settling the issue, “It’s my first time having a Fledgling to mentor.”

  “You’ve never been a mentor?” she raised an eyebrow. Kai’s skin seemed to redden the longer she stared.

  “My requests have never been approved,” he mumbled. Austin had the funny feeling that had been somehow linked to him being a storyteller, “Until now. So, jacket?”

  “Fine,” she said, stopping the sigh that threatened to come out of her lips. He was doing this for her, she knew, to prevent her from slipping into depression again. She just wished that she could tell him that she was, and that there was no reason for her to be sad. She was a little irritated at Aiden, sure, but only a little.

  He brought her to a small store only a few shops down and told her to pick out anything. Apparently when one happens to be the most well known storyteller in the city, you make more than enough money.

  “It helps to be controversial,” he said with a smile that held a million secrets. She rolled her eyes. Nothing he did disrupted the status quo, “It makes people want to read the stories I write.”

  “Right,” she said, grabbing a jacket off the rack. She didn’t like shopping for clothes, so she wanted to be out of here as quickly as possible. The one she held in her hands now was made of wool and dark gray. It was soft in her hands and when she put it on, it clung to her body like a second skin, “This one.”

  “You’re sure?” he asked. He gestured to the racks of more colorful, printed jackets, and she shook her head. Kai put down a few of the metal coins onto the counter near the front of the store and pointed at her, “The sign says that those jackets are only thirty rihs.”

  Rihs? She tried to say it, and it came out sounding like a cough. She watched the sales associate give him his change and they went out again. She braced herself for the cold and was surprised when it only stung against her face. Maybe she had needed this jacket.

  “What’s a rihs?” she asked.

  “Affelil’s currency,” he explained, not surprised that she didn’t know this, “They’re kind of like dollars.”

  “Oh,” she nodded as she walked beside Kai. The streets were alive with people, much like they always were. She still found it strange that they all looked young; barely any looked older than their mid twenties. She felt that there should be a few dragons older than a few centuries.

  Unless the chaos had killed them all, she realized. The people around her were the survivors, the surviving generation. This city might be old, but it was probably about the same age as its inhabitants. The cobblestone streets were solid underfoot, the houses squished together in a very European fashion. From a more experienced dragon’s point of view, this was rather new.

  Still, despite that, it did feel like she had stepped back in time. Whether it was the lack of cars or the clean air, this place was clean of the pollution that tainted the human world. This world, this city, had an ancient form of purity.

  Kai stopped her, pointing at a door hidden behind boxes of used books from the human world. Though she didn’t investigate thoroughly, she only saw familiar authors and titles.

  “This is a rival shop that I’m fond of, but they only sell books from the human world,” Kai said as he pushed open the door to the shop, lowering his voice to a whisper, “They promote reading instore, so there are chairs and espresso machines in every corner. Oh, she’s new.”

  Austin followed his gaze to see a slightly familiar girl, but she couldn’t put a name to the face. She was a Fledgling and couldn’t have been more than sixteen, which made Austin strangely uncomfortable. This girl was new, like her, and she had been surrounded by old things for a long time. The girl’s long brown hair was pulled into a bun and a green visor that matched her apron hung over her eyes.

  Austin’s mind flashed to a dark alley, filling with images of wide, panicked eyes.

  She shook off the random memories. She must have caught sight of her own eyes that night Davey had assaulted her. She didn’t want to act traumatized in front of this girl, and especially not in front of Kai.

  “Do I know you?” she asked suddenly, and the girl looked up from where she was shelving science fiction books.

  She shook her head and said in a slight British accent, “No, I just arrived here. Today’s my first day.”

  “It’s my first week,” Austin said, awkward now. She looked like an idiot. Of course she didn’t know this random girl, “Right, Kai?”

  “Tomorrow is the start of your second week,” he said and looked at the girl’s name tag, “Jess, could you keep an eye on Austin for me? I need to talk to your boss.”

  “Of course,” the girl, Jess, smiled at Kai just a bit too affectionately. Austin shot a dirty look at Kai’s back as he walked away. She hardly believed that it was a mentor’s duty to help his Fledgling make friends. Besides, she had all the friends she needed. Jess spoke again, “Do you like it here?”

  “I guess. I just had a mentor switch, so everything is a little confusing,” she found herself saying, but stumbled over a few words. Jess didn’t seem to mind, so she continued, “My mentor was the General of Anathaem, and he was too busy for a Fledgling.” />
  “But now you have him,” she pointed in the direction that Kai had gone, awe clear in her voice, “You have the storyteller. That’s an upgrade.”

  “Is it?” she asked, considering it. Ausyin allowed herself to wonder. She did enjoy helping out Kai more than she liked training with swords. It was a better fit for her.

  Jess tugged at her long sleeves, suddenly uncomfortable, “I mean, that’s what I think. I don’t want to leave you with the impression that I’m pushy.”

  “Don’t worry,” Austin said, rushing to assure her that she wasn’t at fault for anything, “I’m just pretty awkward, so if I seem weird, it’s just-“

  “Oh, not at all,” Jess laughed, shaking her head, “You’re pretty nice, actually.”

  “That’s a lie,” Austin rolled her eyes, feeling her face warm at the praise.

  Jess shrugged, her mouth curving into a smaller, teasing smile, “Maybe. I don’t know you well enough to decide if you’re nice or not.”

  “I guess I’ll have to come back here, then,” Austin said, suddenly feeling confident. Maybe it was her new jacket, or the necklace that protected her, “So you have more time to decide.”

  “Or I could come by Kai’s shop on my day off,” the girl smiled, “I haven’t been there yet, so it would be cool.”

  “That would be cool. You could rate my tea,” Austin said hopefully, wanting an opinion besides Kai’s.

  Jess grimaced and gave her head a small shake, “I like black coffee, and not much else. Would it still be okay if I came over?”

  “It would still be okay,” Austin nodded. She saw Kai staring at them with a book in his hands, trying to watch unnoticed. She noticed, “I think I have to go. See you later?”

  “See you later,” Jess smiled and went back to shelving. Her sleeves were much too long, Austin noticed. If she hadn’t pulled them up to her wrists, they would have hung a good three inches past her fingers. Austin wondered what she was hiding.

  Kai smiled as they walked out of the store. This time, she held open the door for him.

  “You would never have done that in the human dimension,” he pointed out, once again reminding her how much of a stalker he had been.

  “I never would have done a lot of things in the human dimension,” she looked up, where she could see the sun slipping down in the sky. In an hour or two, it would sink behind the mountains, “Where do we go next?”

  “Let’s go get something to eat,” Kai looked at his watch, “Or we could go to the top of the wall. We could do both. Do you feel like walking?”

  Her legs only slightly ached from her day of walking, and she didn’t think Kai would be able to fix that, “Sure.”

  They ate hotdogs from a roadside stand, and Kai informed her that most meat was imported from the human world. They only hunted in the forests of Affelil and if someone did keep livestock, they only harvested resources that wouldn’t hurt the animal in the process---like milk. Kai led the way through the city and crossed through a poorer section, where the houses were smaller but still standing. She tried not to look at the children dressed in rags. If she looked too hard, it might disrupt the glowing impression she had of Anathaem. He brought her to the edge of the wall and smiled, looking at the stairs that lead to the very top, “And now we walk.”

  And so they did. They walked until her legs grew sore, and even then, they kept walking. Austin tried very hard not to look down, instead keeping her eyes on the gray wall to her right. After ten minutes, what would have been a shorter travel time if she hadn’t taken so many breaks, she reached the point where the path was flat underneath her feet, and she looked forwards.

  She stood on the edge, her arms shaking as she clung to the thin rail. She felt that if the wind blew too hard, she would fall off. She could see for miles, the view better than she had seen even on the empire state building. Instead of miles of gray metal and electric lights, her eyes were filled with sparkling rivers and creeks, a sea of fallen leaves, and bold trees that stood out against the expanse of color. She felt lightheaded and dizzy, but most of all, she felt alive.

  She loved it here.

  “Remember this,” Kai said from behind her, the wind carrying his voice in all directions. She nodded, too exhilarated to respond, “This is something that you have to remember, no matter what.”

  She would remember.