by D. R. Grady
She breathed deeply, enjoying the scent of progress for their people.
With students already scheduled to begin their transition the numbers looked better. Still, no one knew the exact or even a generalized census of the remaining Aasguard warriors.
Ari and Kellen had asked each visiting Aasguard to sign a guest log and this would help to ascertain the number. At least those who carried crystals could be contacted. Each warrior added their name and crystal frequency.
As they turned the last corner the light and sunshine of the outdoors enticed. A large windowed door greeted them and the wild vista spread out in a stunning array.
She shoved the door open and breathed deeply again. The rugged landscape here carried its own unique scent, one that called to her warrior. Another reason why Ari and Kellen deemed this location appropriate for this much needed school.
A winding stone staircase led to the dragon area. They could have used the inside staircase but most Aasguards enjoyed being outdoors so she and Rykert had naturally chosen the outside entrance. They loped down the solid steps that would remain here for millennia.
Her friends had chosen building materials that would not deteriorate anytime soon. This school should remain standing long after many of them had passed on. It brought a sense of belonging to her heart that had long been missing.
She stopped on the stair but Rykert did not plow into her. He took her hand instead and brought it to his lips. “We do belong. We always have. Only we have never built our community before. Times are changing.”
Not an empty promise but a vow she felt to the very depths of her being. Felicity smiled at him before she continued down the stairs. This man, this seasoned warrior had weathered many of the same battles and experiences she had. He understood.
And they were only just learning that many of their peers could tell the same stories and wished to do so.
She made a vow to herself. To do everything she could to help build just such a community for those warriors.
‡‡
The familiar, comforting smell of dragons greeted them once Rykert opened the door leading into the massive area. He immediately picked up Felix’s scent and headed in that direction. Not in the least surprised that along with Felix’s came the essence of a female.
An interested female. Only Maeze was young. It didn’t take his long association with the sunshine colored dragon to detect Felix moved cautiously.
A gust of relief left his lungs.
Felicity darted a quick smile at him. “You feared Felix would lose his head?”
“Yes, I absolutely believed that.”
“I heard that.” Felix poked his head between them and Rykert affectionately patted his dragon.
“I am impressed, pal.” He quickly took in his companion of more years than he cared to calculate. Felicity continued deeper into the massive room to greet Maeze.
Felix’s sigh came from a place Rykert recognized. He gripped the dragon’s shoulder in solidarity.
“Yes, I understand.” Together they watched the two females. Felicity hugged Maeze and the two twittered together in that way only females could. Their words bubbled up from some place that he certainly didn’t possess.
He glanced at Felix who shook his head. “I have no idea.”
“I am with you in whatever perpetual frustration this will become.”
By then Aern and Fricassa joined them. Aern looking smug in his mating and Fricassa as sweet as ever as she bussed him. He might not know either dragon well, but he enjoyed both. Fricassa did look larger around the middle than he remembered.
Felicity edged Fricassa to the side and soon the two were deep in conversation. He enjoyed conversing with the other three dragons. Aern kept slanting knowing looks at Felix but he appeared downright fatherly toward Maeze.
This in of itself proved entertaining for Rykert. He leaned against a far wall and watched the interaction between the two male dragons, especially in light of the young female in the room.
These two males had been around long enough they appreciated the other. Aern had spanned the relationship crevasse and appeared thankful for this. Whereas Felix had yet to navigate the same path with Maeze and probably appreciated Aern’s advice. Although Fricassa was of a similar age to the clumsy black dragon. A bonus for them but their advice might not help Felix.
Hmm, that might account for Felix’s lack of narrowing in on his advantage with Maeze. Due to her youth, his dragon might have no notion how to maneuver. Neither Rykert nor Felix had believed a mate a part of their future so now that this dawned as a possibility, he and the yellow dragon were left grappling with what to do. One did not wish to muddle the situation.
Their bungling attempts might be ignored by their females, but having never done this before, there appeared to be a period of learning involved. He hoped he and Felix made it through this process with their womenfolk still interested.
Aern cleared his throat. “Do not worry. Things tend to work out.”
“How badly can we bungle this and it will still be fine?” Felix swallowed loudly.
A semi-snort from Aern and then his right front foot and right back foot got in the way of each other and he toppled.
Rykert and Felix both leapt out of the way. Aern wouldn’t kill either of them if he fell on them but he would make them sore for a few days.
“Excuse me, fellows. I get excited.” Aern straightened his bulk, set his feet where they should be and settled his girth on the ground in the most dignified of manners. As though he had not just tripped over his right feet.
Rykert hid his snicker as Felix elbowed him. “No worries, Aern. You have to have one negative trait. Otherwise you’d be tedious to be around.”
Felix made a noise of agreement in the back of his throat.
“Tripping over one’s own feet, especially when you are my size, is egregious.” Aern settled more solidly into the space around him. His slightly put out air made him all the more likable.
“Fricassa does not seem to mind.” Felix glanced in the direction of the green dragon.
“She thinks I am cute.” The air around Aern lightened another notch. He also glanced at the small dragon involved in a deep conversation with Felicity.
He wondered what they spoke so solemnly about. Where Aern veered toward still slightly disgruntled, something about Fricassa’s body language indicated she might be astonished.
Never once had the two females been distracted. Their conversation must be intense. Fricassa’s face scales kept deepening every so often. Rykert personally found a blushing dragon endearing. But then that might also be Fricassa.
Aern’s tiny mate was as likable as Aern. While not clumsy, she tended toward saying things as they were. This trait might put some off. Rykert enjoyed her forthrightness.
He glanced around the space. “Where did Maeze go?”
“She probably wanted to give us some time. Maeze is quite empathic. She realized we all had our conversations.” Aern sounded fatherly.
Felix sent a sardonic look at them. “She stands on the other side of Fricassa.”
Both Rykert and Aern peered more closely at the females. Sure enough, a few flashes of blue on the other side of Fricassa indicated the blue dragon had remained with the females.
“It looks like Felicity missed her. She has not lifted a hand from Maeze yet.” Felix’s tone gave nothing away.
Rykert elbowed him. “I missed you too.”
He and Aern snickered as Felix rolled his eyes. Most dragons didn’t do so, but Felix had picked up the tendency, probably from Rykert centuries ago.
“I am never going to understand females.” Felix sounded a tad glum.
“Do not fear. There is no need to understand females in order to enjoy living with them.” Aern said this with confidence and the slight smugness of a male who has established himself in the life of his chosen female.
Rykert wanted that.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Speaking with an animate
d Fricassa, Felicity enjoyed spending time with the small green dragon. She suspected Fricassa had no idea about the new life growing inside her. Felicity could not determine whether there was more than one. The green dragon’s condition appeared to be fairly new.
“It is wonderful that Raene and Vidar are going to be parents.” Felicity opened the conversation to gauge whether Fricassa knew.
She glanced at Maeze, but doubted her dragon had any idea either. Maeze nuzzled her and Felicity wrapped an arm around the blue dragon, her heart swelling at the affection shown. She agreed. “I missed you too.” She murmured this to her dragon.
Maeze’s youth meant she still needed some stability and Felix must have thrown off that sense for her. Having Fricassa and Aern probably helped, but Felicity was happy to provide that security for her dragon as well.
“Yes, we are all very excited for Raene and Vidar. Aernie is already making little digs at Vidar that both of them are enjoying.” Fricassa’s twittering furthered Felicity’s belief that Fricassa had not turned her thoughts inward yet.
“Has Vidar teased you and Aern yet about starting your family?” Might as well head in that direction.
“Of course. Aernie takes it well.”
“Dragon reproduction is tricky.” Maeze said this as though the thought had made itself known.
Interesting.
“Did that tidbit come from your mother’s memories?”
“It did.” Maeze blinked her yellow eyes. “She and my father were uncertain whether they could produce me.”
“We can enjoy each other but reproduction is an unknown. At least for the dragons I have recently conversed with.” Fricassa’s sigh emitted from deep inside her.
“Would you be excited if you did learn you were with dragon?”
Now it was Fricassa’s turn to blink. Her black eyes shut and opened much more slowly than Maeze’s had. A small tear welled. “I would love to be a mother.” This emerged from the same deep place as the sigh.
“I remember when Maeze’s mother was expecting her.” Felicity offered this information to Fricassa to do with it as she pleased.
“You remember when Salunga and Keark realized they were going to become parents?” Fricassa pressed closer.
“Oh yes.” Felicity smiled. “You could hardly find two more excited dragons.”
“How did they learn of Maeze’s arrival?” Fricassa’s intensity increased.
“Salunga’s appetite increased dramatically. She also gained weight at a rapid rate. That had never happened before.”
Fricassa and Maeze looked at each other, then both pointedly looked to Felicity.
“Are you saying…” Fricassa’s high-pitched semi-question made Felicity hide a smile.
“There was some discussion about how much you are eating now and that you have gained weight.”
“My Lajos mentioned this?” Affection interwove the green dragon’s question.
“He might have. Vidar did as well. There is some excitement that he and Aern might be fathers soon.”
Tears did well in Fricassa’s eyes. “You think I might be with dragon?”
“All of the same indicators are there that I saw with Salunga’s condition. Do you become emotional for no reason?”
“Yes.” A wispy whisper.
“You are eating far more than you normally do?”
“Yes. But I have gone through phases of that in the past. Where my hunger increased for a short span. But I was not mated then.”
“We believe your need for additional calories has everything to do with securing the fertilized eggs. If there are no eggs, then everything settles and returns to normal. Salunga used to do the same at times. Actually she and I cycled around the same time after a couple of decades.”
Fricassa latched onto one aspect of that statement. “Will I lay eggs?”
“I do not know. Salunga did, but she thought it was rare.” Felicity shoved her braid off her shoulder. “Some dragons give birth to live hatchlings while others lay eggs. Salunga laid an egg. Keark and Salunga were disappointed they only had one. But they were thrilled with Maeze. They simply wanted her to have siblings.”
“They did not know there was only one until Salunga laid Maeze’s egg?”
“That is correct. She coughed, and Maeze’s egg, a speckled blue one, landed on the nest she was consumed with making for about a week.”
Maeze cleared her throat at Fricassa.
Fricassa paled, before her scales brightened considerably. “Aernie has been teasing me about my urgent need to build a nest. He keeps saying dragons left the custom of building nests a millennia ago.” Fricassa’s voice cracked.
“That is true. Except when they are going to have young” Felicity spoke delicately.
Fricassa started to sob. Felicity surged forward to hug her as Aern’s head reared up and he galloped across the chamber to Fricassa. He did not trip over his own feet until he was safely stopped beside Fricassa and there was no fear to falling on her.
By then, his hind feet gave out, but he crowded her, asking questions faster than his tongue could work. Words tripped off his lips. Felicity and Maeze both soothed him.
Then they faded away to Rykert and Felix. Maeze’s cheek scales also brightened as she sent a shy smile to Felix. Whose yellow chest puffed as the seasoned dragon acknowledged this with a world-weary nod. An experienced, mature male who she was right to trust.
Felicity had a hard time hiding the grin that kept trying to escape. A hard male arm slid around her waist and snatched her against an equally hard male body. She snuggled in.
Warm lips caressed her temple. “Are you laughing at my dragon?”
“Maybe. I have never seen Felix in courting mode. It is fun.”
“What made Fricassa cry?”
“She is with dragon.” Felicity said this loud enough for Felix to also overhear.
His yellow head whipped around to the two dragons who stood close together, their heads tight against each other, whispering.
“Fricassa is going to have a dragon?”
“There is every indication that is true. They will have to verify this. That is likely what they are doing right now.” She smiled at the dragon mates as they delved inside Fricassa.
“Our species will continue.” Felix stated this in a voice that clogged. As though emotion had bubbled up.
“I am evidence of that.” Maeze pointed out.
For some reason, this all pierced Felicity’s heart. She and Rykert were the last of their species. And thus far they were doing little to alter that fact.
‡‡
After a time that looked like more cuddling and whispering than an actual conversation, Fricassa and Aern made their way to their little group. Rykert noticed immediately that while Aern did trip at one point, his stride could be more named a strut than a walk.
The black dragon could barely contain his excitement. He kept bumping Fricassa with affection and pride.
“Have you checked?” Felicity leaned toward Fricassa.
“We both did. I am definitely with dragon. There is at least one, but I understand now why Salunga and Keark had trouble telling if there were others.” Fricassa stated with a slight frown.
“It is difficult to tell, but we did see one egg.” Aern’s chest swelled.
“Why can you not see them all?” Confusion flashed across Maeze’s still expressive face.
“There are eggs there, but it is impossible to tell which are fertilized and which are not. They are all clumped together and the first one blocks any others. We can see a small dragon forming in the first one.” Fricassa answered with maternal surprise and delight.
“The first one is growing and appears healthy. Fricassa was right to make our nest.” Aern wrapped his tail around her.
“Instincts are what has kept our species alive this long. I could not ignore the urge to build a nest.”
“This would explain why we have built nests in Swiftland and Montequirst. And she has been nattering
about building one here as well.” Aern stated this in a musing tone. “This is because we do not know where we shall be when the babes come.”
“How long will the eggs need before they hatch?” Fricassa asked Felicity.
Rykert admitted that he only followed about half of this conversation. Perhaps not even that much and a side glance at Felix proved his dragon appeared to also be struggling. Good, he should hate to be alone in his lack of knowledge.
“Maeze took about a month to hatch after Salunga laid her egg. Salunga fretted because she had a memory of some dragons giving birth to live dragons. Then also of others who laid an egg or more but their hatchling or hatchlings broke through within the week.” Felicity indicated Maeze. “I wondered if Salunga laid hers early because her aging body simply could not accommodate a developing hatchling.”
“My instincts are clamoring that I will keep this one until it hatches.” Fricassa sank deep within herself. “I know my cousin had a live birth. Perhaps it depends on our family line.”
“That makes sense. Salunga remembered her older sister laying eggs. She only did so twice, but both times they were eggs and they hatched within a week. She fretted because Maeze was so long in the egg.”
“Does the male’s lineage play a part?” Rykert inserted this into the conversation because Aern’s lineage should make an impact.
A long expel of breath with a smattering of dragonfyre rushed from Fricassa’s nostrils. “Of course. Aernie’s genetics would make a difference here.”
Then her scales paled.
Felicity rushed to place a hand on her. “You and Aern are mates. His massiveness is not going to impede your ability to birth or lay your babes. Nature does this perfectly.”
“I was tiny when I was born. All of us were. Marxin and I are/were the largest of my family, but we all birthed small. And if I remember correctly, we were birthed not hatched.” Aern rushed to reassure his mate.
