Dragon Kin: Sapphire & Lotus

by Audrey Faye

  She didn’t want anyone else taking care of Lotus. “Maybe I can help.”

  Kellan looked skeptical. “Do you know anything about dragons?”

  Just that they liked to eat milk curds and they had really sharp claws and the most beautiful green eyes in the world. “No, but I could learn.”

  Her new friend sopped up some stew juices with the end of the loaf of bread and popped it in her mouth. She chewed for a while, thinking. “We don’t get a lot of new people here, but if you wandered into the forest, maybe you’re meant to stay. I hope so. I bet you’re a lot of fun when you’re not soaking wet and tired.”

  It was nice to have someone think so. Sapphire spooned up the last of the stew in her own bowl.

  “Ah, good—you’re done.” Karis’s head popped around the corner, and then she walked into the room, still wearing her wet travel cloak and dirty boots.

  Sapphire felt guilty that she was warm and dry and full. “I’m sorry—we ate all the stew.”

  “Of course you did.” Karis laid a companionable hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry—I got a big bowl of it too. I’ve been over with Irin and Kis, helping Lotus get settled in.”

  A hundred questions bubbled to Sapphire’s lips. She went with the fastest one. “Is she going to be all right?”

  “Dragons are tough.” Karis didn’t seem at all worried. “She ate her body weight in milk curds and collapsed in a warm corner for a nap.”

  Kellan jumped to her feet. “I’ll go tell Alonia we’ll need more curds.”

  Karis’s other hand landed on the serving girl’s shoulder. “Already done. You can take Sapphire here and tuck her into a bed, as I’m guessing she could use sleep as much the baby dragon we just settled.”

  “She can bunk in with me. I’ve got lots of room with Lorett gone.”

  “Good.” Karis seemed to approve of more than just the sleep arrangements. “Indira and Saven have gone off to tell Sapphire’s clan that she’ll be staying with us for a few days at least.”

  There was a long silence at that, one ripe with words unsaid and things that Sapphire didn’t understand. But a whole night of sleeping in a tree had finally caught up with her, and she could feel herself swaying on the chair. She desperately wanted to go see Lotus, but she couldn’t figure out how to stay awake another second.

  Strong arms caught her as she fell.

  Her last thoughts before sleep took her were of bright green eyes and peach-pink scales.

  Chapter 5

  This had definitely been the strangest two days of her life.

  Sapphire rubbed the sleep from her eyes and wandered out of the small room where she’d woken up. Sunlight had streamed through the small window and teased her awake. There’d been a pitcher and basin of water and a chamber pot, all of which she’d made quick use of, but nothing else to tell her where she was or who had put her there.

  “Ah, there you are. Good morning.”

  She turned to face the side of the room where the voice had come from. Karis sat at a small table, a pile of small metal parts spread out on a board in front of her. Judging by the big pile of dirty rags and the smaller pile of neatly folded ones, she was cleaning something.

  Sapphire cleared her throat, a bit uncertain it would work. “Hello.”

  “We were going to put you in with Kellan, but you passed out on us and here was closer.” The older woman gestured at a small counter. “There’s fresh bread and cheese, or oatmeal if you’d rather, although it might be a bit cold by now.”

  Oatmeal was something she only ate if she was really sick. “Bread and cheese would be lovely, thank you. Do you mind if I toast it over your fire?” That was her favorite. Sapphire took a step toward the counter, and looked around, perplexed. The space was toasty and warm, but there wasn’t a hearth anywhere in sight.

  “The small rondos generally don’t have fires. We mostly wander over to the kitchen for food.” Karis gestured over her shoulder. “And Afran here is keeping us nice and warm.”

  Sapphire blinked at the surface she’d assumed was a wall, and noticed it was moving slowly in and out.

  “There’s no need for a fire with a dragon in the house.” The older woman smiled. “I bet even the little dragonet kept you reasonably warm up in the tree.”

  They maybe had different definitions of warm. “Afran lives here? With you?”

  “He does.” Karis chuckled as a low rumbling sound filled the small room. “Fortunately, I don’t mind his snoring.”

  Sapphire got a small plate of bread and cheese and a tumbler of something that smelled like the mulled cider of the night before, trying to be as quiet as she could. Afran’s eyes had been kind in the early forest dawn, but he was huge. She didn’t want to wake him.

  Karis seemed to have no such compunctions. She reached for a small slice of the cheese. “Did you sleep well?” Her voice echoed off the walls, a woman used to being heard the first time.

  “I did, thank you.” Sapphire’s well-schooled manners fought a battle with fast-rising curiosity, and lost. “What do you do here at the village? How do you get to live with a dragon?”

  The woman cast a fond glance at the gently breathing wall. “We’re teachers, of a sort. There’s a school here, and we work with some of the students.”

  Kellan hadn’t mentioned that part. Hope fluttered alive in Sapphire’s chest. “How does someone become a student?” Maybe that would let her stay close to Lotus, at least. “Could I?”

  “Well…” Karis looked undecided. “You made it through the Mirror, and that’s no small thing. But you’re also from an important elf family, and that’s not typically who we take in.”

  Sapphire knew she wasn’t very important, but that wasn’t what caught her attention. “What’s the Mirror?”

  “It’s a kind of magic. It keeps the dragon kin village hidden in plain sight, you might say. Very much like the Veils do for the elf vales.” She smiled. “We’re no more than a solid day’s walk from your clan, but I bet you’ve never seen a dragon, right?”

  A good night’s sleep was making Sapphire’s head work a whole lot better. “Never. And I didn’t know about this village either, and I know people from elf clans that are much farther than a day away.” Human villages in between the clans didn’t tend to know much about elves because of the Veils. It made a strange kind of sense for the dragons to have similar protections.

  “Exactly.” Karis kept working on cleaning the metal bits of the tool she’d taken apart. “Dragons have tried living as part of the visible world, but they’re easily misunderstood, and it tends to end in a lot of violence and hardship. We needed a place close to the clans to raise the young dragons and let them find their kin, and the Mirror helps protect us while we do that.’

  Kin. That was a word from Grandfather’s stories. A suddenly very important one. “Who gets to be kin?”

  This time, Karis’s eyes flickered with interest. “Some people, elves and humans both, form a special bond with a dragon. They become partners, and they spend their whole lives together.”

  Sapphire swallowed her bite of bread and cheese barely chewed. “Like you and Afran.”

  “Yes. We bonded shortly after my rising ceremony.”

  The official welcome of an elf to adulthood, and four long years away. “Is it always adults who bond with dragons?” Sapphire could hear the plaintive note in her voice.

  “No. Usually, but not always. Irin and Kis bonded when Irin was still a child. And every year or two, one of our students bonds before their rising.”

  She needed to be one of those students. “Tell me about your school.”

  Karis’s head tilted to the side. “We take in strays and orphans, mostly, and the occasional one who wanders through the Mirror with stars in their eyes. We offer an education at least as good as any in the vales, and a chance to make an important difference in the world when you’re done.”

  Sapphire could barely breathe. “So I could stay. And maybe one day I could bond with
Lotus.” It wasn’t enough, and it wasn’t certain, and it was going to take far too long—but it was a chance. She’d never wanted anything so much in her whole life.

  Karis studied her closely. “Normally, my answer would be no. You come from an important family, so you already have a way to make your mark in this world.”

  Not like this one. She met the older woman’s eyes, hoping she could read what lived in Sapphire’s heart. “My sisters all have special talents, but I’ve never had any. I’m entirely ordinary.”

  A long pause while the older warrior studied her. “How old are you, child?”

  Sapphire bristled—she hadn’t been a child for years now. “I passed fourteen at the last harvest moon.”

  Karis’s eyebrows flew up. “I wouldn’t have taken you for more than ten or eleven.”

  The story of her life. Undersized and uninteresting. “I’m stronger than you think, and I don’t mind working hard.”

  An amused chuckle greeted her words. “We don’t judge character on size around here, youngling—there’s no need to take offense.”

  They’d never let her stay if she couldn’t stop sounding so foolish. Sapphire looked up and met Karis’s gaze directly. “My clan is important to me, but there are many in my family, and truly not enough work to keep everyone busy and out of my mother’s hair.” Or so she said on a regular basis, anyhow. “I think they’d be proud that I found something useful to do.” Grandfather’s tales of dragons hadn’t been very specific, but from what she remembered, he’d held them in high esteem.

  “Well, there’s no lack of work to do around here.” Karis’s eyes sharpened. “Have you been schooled?”

  “Of course.” Sapphire almost bit off her tongue as she heard the sharp tone in her voice. “Moon Clan prides itself on raising elves who are well versed in history, poetry, woodcraft, and the arts.” She sighed and figured she’d better tell the truth now before they had time for their opinion of her to improve. “I’m better at some of those than others.”

  “Aren’t we all.” The warrior gave a light shrug that carried just the faintest hint of respect. “You come from a family where you’re likely quite used to others serving many of your needs.”

  Finally—something where she could give the right answer and have it be absolute truth. “Not at all. One of the ways my mother tried to keep us out of her hair was to make sure we could all take care of our own needs as far as we were able. I’ve washed all my own clothes since I was big enough to wade in the river without falling over, I’m a fair hand with a needle and thread, although not as good as some of my sisters, and only my brother Fellin is a better cook over an open fire.” She paused, somewhat embarrassed. They probably didn’t care that she could make excellent roasted vegetables.

  Karis seemed cautiously pleased. “That would be helpful.”

  Sapphire caught the subtle change in the words. The warrior was considering her request—really considering it. She thought hard for a moment and decided to offer up more of the truth. The dragon kin woman seemed oddly drawn to it. “I’m a bit weak on woodcraft, though. I get lost really easily—that’s how I ended up in your hatching grounds.”

  “Part of it, anyhow.” Karis didn’t seem inclined to explain her mysterious answer. “And if you end up kin, you’ll never need to worry about getting lost. Dragons have a sense of direction no elf or human can match.”

  Sapphire hadn’t made it much past the part about how she might get to bond with a dragon one day. “I can stay?”

  “I don’t know.” Karis’s eyes offered more hope than her words. “You seem honest and reasonably aware of your own strengths and failings, and those are both things we value around here. I’ll speak to some of the others and decide if we’d like to petition your clan on your behalf.”

  That sounded complicated. And expensive. Negotiations between clans always were. “I don’t know if they’ll pay you much to take me.” Father was the toughest deal maker this side of the Summerlands, or at least that’s what everyone in Moon Clan thought. When he sent fosterlings to other clans, it was always the other side that left the deal circle scowling.

  Karis snorted. “You’ve a very undervalued sense of your own worth for an elf.”

  That didn’t make sense. “I’m the youngest daughter, and very ordinary.”

  A long, pregnant pause, and then the warrior reached out and laid a strong hand over Sapphire’s. “You found a dragon, youngling. Whatever else you are, you’re not remotely ordinary.”

  Sapphire blinked. “I was lost in the forest.” Then she remembered about the Mirror—but maybe the spell didn’t bother with very ordinary, very lost elves. “I don’t have any magic, either, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Very few elves did anymore. Only the ones in the ancient stories.

  Karis opened her mouth to say something else, but stopped at the sound of running feet.

  A young boy came flying through the door like the hounds of hell were running at his heels. “Irin says to bring Sapphire right now!”

  Karis was on her feet before the child finished speaking. “He’s in the nursery?” She waved a sharp hand at Sapphire, and a totally unnecessary one. She was already on her feet and following the boy out the door. There was only one reason anyone in this village would have called for her.

  “The baby dragon’s throwing a gore-awful tantrum,” the messenger gasped as he ran. “She near melted one of Irin’s favorite swords that he was polishing, and she bit Kis on the nose when he tried to get her to calm down.”

  Karis looked more amused than concerned as she huffed beside them. “Fierce little thing, is she? How many languages has Irin cursed in so far?”

  “At least four.” The boy’s eyes widened. “But one of them was Dwarvish.”

  Karis grimaced. “That’s not one he pulls out often.”

  Sapphire was barely listening anymore. She pulled ahead of the other two, panic lending speed to her feet. She could hear a very familiar, very loud yowling coming straight out the door of the biggest rondo.

  Her dragon was calling.

  Chapter 6

  Sapphire didn’t even slow down when she barreled into the nursery rondo—she charged right over to where a huge man with a scruffy beard was corralling a hissing-mad peach-pink dragonet high up on a shelf in the corner, and ducked under his right arm.

  And then squealed as she felt herself lifted into the air.

  “Just slow down there, missy.” The man’s voice matched his size. He set her down beside him none too gently. “She’s been flaming anyone who tries to get close to her nest.”

  She looked at the woven branches that must be the nest, set up on a ledge at about the height of her chin. “It’s too high—she wants to be on the floor.” Sapphire didn’t know how she knew that, but she could feel the truth of it blazing out of the small, hissing dragon.

  “On the floor?” The big man sounded poleaxed. “They never want to be on the floor.”

  “Lotus does.” Sapphire felt very sure. “She’s afraid of high places.”

  “That’s impossible. Dragons fly higher than anything else in the world.”

  Sapphire didn’t know anything about that—she only knew about one dragon. “She spent the whole night in the forest with me up in a really big tree and now she’s scared and she wants to come down.” She could totally sympathize—she wasn’t climbing anything higher than a step stool ever again.

  “She’d be a strange one if that’s what’s got her riled.” The man didn’t seem to disbelieve her, though. He stretched a hand toward Lotus, and yanked it back as a stream of fire shot out her nose. “Can you calm her down enough for me to lift her down?”

  Sapphire lifted her chin up. Lotus was her dragon. “I can get her down.” It couldn’t be any harder than climbing down the tree. She took a step toward the shelf, holding her hands up like tree branches, and then jumped back as the next stream of fire nearly scorched her eyebrows off.

  “She’s got a temper, this one.�
� The man, who must be Irin, sounded like he approved.

  Sapphire felt her chest swelling with pride. She could hear the others standing behind her, the quiet accompaniment of their shuffling footsteps and low voices. She ignored them all. Only one thing mattered in this moment, and that was the feeling beating out of the tiny dragonet. “She’s tough, but she’s scared, too.”

  “Scared?” The big man beside her didn’t sound like he believed a word, but he squatted down beside her on the dirt. “That’s a lot of piss and fire to be fear.”

  “She’s terrified.” Sapphire held out her hands, palms up. “I’m right here, beautiful.”

  Lotus started to quiver.

  “I bet you need some food for that hungry belly of yours, hmm?” Sapphire wasn’t even sure what words she was saying, but she pushed as much calm and soothing at Lotus as she could. “I had mushroom stew last night, but I bet that’s not what they fed you.”

  Green eyes were watching her now.

  A voice behind her started to say something and was quickly hushed.

  “There are curds in the bowl on the small table to your right,” said the big man in a low rumble she could barely hear.

  Lotus hissed again.

  “He’s a friend.” Sapphire kept up the calm, soothing river of words. “He’s been trying to help you and get you something to eat, and you’ve been making a big mess and setting things on fire.”

  She imagined that the green eyes looked just the tiniest bit embarrassed. Which was silly, because babies didn’t understand how much disruption they caused for everyone else. Slowly, Sapphire reached for the copper bowl to her right. “If you’re hungry, you can come over here and use your nice dragon manners and we’ll see what we can do about fixing that.” One more time, she held up her arm like a tree branch, and held her breath as Lotus quivered on the edge of the shelf.

  Nothing moved—and then everything moved as baby dragon claws scurried down Sapphire’s arm and straight down her tunic to the floor.

  Hissing like a wild thing, Lotus backed into the corner.