by Ramy Vance
“You and Chine wrecked those giants. I thought they were going to give us a much harder time.”
“Eh, they made the mistake of assuming Chine and I were attached at the hip. That, and this big guy seems to be as comfortable in a forest as in the air. Plus, they were interrupting our date. So, how about we go see how those pixies are and get back to it?”
Jim smiled as he opened his cockpit. “Oh, so you’re enjoying the romancing?”
Alex started toward where she thought the pixies would be. “I don’t not like it.”
Chapter Three
Alex and Jim found the pixies huddled in an old mushroom-covered tree log. They were sitting quietly, two of the older ones perched near the opening as lookouts. When they saw two humans approaching, they whistled loudly for the rest of the pixies to come and meet their saviors.
The pixies were ecstatic. They had seen the fight or at least the two sentries had, and told the rest of the pixies what they’d seen. The sentries recognized Jim and Alex as dragonriders. They had heard tales of the riders’ prowess in battle and were glad to see that the stories were not exaggerations.
Alex tried not to let the praise go to her head. She was happy they were safe—that was the important thing. But it never hurt to hear nice things. For the most part, being a dragonrider was a thankless job. The corps gave credit when it was due, but it was a circular thing. The people Alex was working to protect had no idea about the kind of work she did.
It was nice to be able to see the joy in the faces of the pixies. Alex knew she had made a difference. (Not that she thought she hadn’t before.) Seeing the pixies safe and well was different, though. It wasn’t an abstract concept like the Dark One was. This was tangible. And sometimes that was all Alex needed—just be able to hold on to something, to know it was real.
One of the sentries flew up to Alex’s face, smiling and glowing bright yellow. “What brought you into the forest anyway?” the pixie asked. “Humans don’t usually come out this way, even if the Wasp’s Nest is so close. We hardly ever see humans.”
Alex figured that made sense. “That’s because there aren’t many other humans around the Nest,” Alex said. “Have you met any of the other dragonriders?”
“Oh, yes, many. There are a few elves who come to our woods, and pixies. Also, a young drow…he is the quietest of all. Sometimes we don’t even know he’s among the trees.”
Jim laughed as he shook his head. “That would be Gill,” he said mostly to himself. “Only quiet person I know who’s able to make that kind of impression.”
The sentry flew closer to Alex’s face. “You still haven’t told me what brought you to the forest.”
“Oh, yeah. Well, we were trying to get someplace,” Alex said. “But I’m not sure where it was we’re going. It was supposed to be a surprise.”
The sentries looked at each other, confused by how awkward the two humans were being. “What are you doing in the forest?” one of the sentries inquired.
Jim bashfully scratched the back of his head. “Uh, well, we’re on a date.”
The sentry still seemed to be in the dark. “What is ‘a date?’”
Jim’s face went red as he cleared his throat. “Guess it’s like a pre-mating ritual. I mean, kinda like an equivalent for pixies.” He turned to Alex, throwing his hands up. “Not saying that’s what I’m trying to do or anything. It’s just that pixies don’t do dates, but they have those rituals.”
Alex couldn’t bring herself to meet Jim’s eyes, and he turned back and started talking to the pixie sentries, who had flown closer to speak more quietly. When the sentries finally gave Jim his space, he was shaking his head and blushing slightly. “They want to escort us on our date,” he explained. “As a thank you.”
“Why would we want a pixie escort? This isn’t my high school prom.”
“Alex, you were homeschooled. You didn’t have a prom.”
Alex shrugged off Jim’s critique of her wit. “Doesn’t matter. You get the point I’m making,” she retorted.
Jim came over to Alex and smiled that smile that had recently started to make her stomach flutter. “Trust me, it’s totally gonna be worth it. Sun’s about to set and everything. It’s a great idea.”
“All right. As long as this doesn’t turn out to be anything weird.”
The sun had set, and darkness had settled over the valley. The moon hung crooked and swollen like a giant white eye peering at that which could not be known. Alex had always loved full moons, but although tonight’s was gorgeous, it was nothing compared to what she was a part of.
The pixies were glowing as bright as they could, surrounding Alex and Jim as they made their way through the forest and down to a meadow of wildflowers. Those were glowing as well, although in muted tones.
The parade of lights continued through the meadow, past the flowers and up into the hills. Alex couldn’t take her eyes off of the pixies, who were also singing quietly, a low and solemn tune that added an air of gravity to their short journey. Alex would not have connected it with pixies. Gone was their lightheartedness; instead, there was a weight in the song that hung as heavy as heartbreak.
It was a sobering experience, almost like a meditation. Jim was right; it was a great idea.
As they traveled under the moonlight with the song of the pixies filling the air, they descended into the valley. At the bottom was a pond roughly thirty feet across, surrounded by an outcropping of trees. There was sand around the lake, and even from far away, it looked soft. Steam was rising from the water. “You brought your bathing suit, right?” Jim asked.
Alex had thought Jim was joking about swimming. It had been freezing the last few nights, but she had worn it under her armor just to be safe. Even though Jim joked a lot, he rarely advised doing something unless it was important.
The pixies continued down the hill with Alex and Jim until they stood before the lake. Alex dismounted from Chine, and Jim exited his mech. They stood on the shore of the lake, watching the steam rise. “How hot is it?” Alex asked.
“Gill said it’s about ninety degrees on a night like this. He thought it was weird we were bringing bathing suits. Apparently, drow skinny-dip.”
Alex put all her mental effort into not letting her imagination run wild with that idea. Instead, she hit her dragon anchor, and her armor slid up into her anchor. Jim did the same, and they both walked over to the lake. Alex dipped her toe into the water. Gill hadn’t lied. The lake was practically the temperature of a hot tub.
Slowly Alex lowered herself into the water, the heat shooting up her legs as if it were fire. At first, it was too hot, but the water instantly became relaxing. She oozed into the pool as if she’d become water.
Jim wasn’t too far behind her. He took a little more time to get his legs wet, but once he was knee-deep, he waded farther into the lake.
The two swam slowly around each other, circling in silence. The moon shone down on them as if in agreement with what it beheld.
Alex couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone swimming. This was the first time since she’d been magically given her sight. She thought about mentioning it to Jim but decided not to. Sometimes it felt better not to be constantly mentioning how awesome her first experiences were.
But she took it all in: the reflection of the moon against the water, Jim’s bare chest glistening with small beads of water, the constantly shifting colors of the pixies who were dancing above them like streaking stars that had come down to join them.
Alex and Jim didn’t speak much. They swam instead. When they were not swimming, they went back to the bank of the lake and lay down on the soft sand as the warm waters washed over their bodies. When they did speak, it was of nothing in particular. Stories told in snippets. The occasional laugh or giggle.
Time stopped for a bit.
Finally, after a long period of silence, while lying on the bank of the pond, Alex sighed and said, “I think I really needed this.”
Jim was waving
his hand back and forth in the water. He looked up absentmindedly, as if the heat from the lake had drained him of his thoughts. “I think we both did.”
Alex stared up at the moon. Everything felt perfect. She couldn’t imagine it could be better. “I’m glad you asked me,” she said. “It’ll be nice to come back here with everyone. But I’m glad that it’s just us this time.”
As Alex stared up the sky, something bright and green streaked across. It looked like someone had carved open the sky and whatever was underneath had bled green. It was gone within a moment, only a flash. And that was all the attention Alex gave the streak.
Chapter Four
Alex and Jim had lost track of time. It was a pleasant feeling, one Alex couldn’t really recall having shared with another person before. Especially not such interesting conversation. Jim didn’t seem to like small talk very much. He kept asking Alex questions that made her stop and think.
That wasn’t to say Alex wasn’t trying to do the same thing. This was the first time they’d gotten to talk for an extended period of time outside of VR or work. It felt like they had a lot of catching up to do. Or at least, to get to know each other.
As Jim told Alex about the first time he’d ever broken a bone, she noticed that the streak was still bright in the sky, almost as if it had slowed its descent. When Jim was finished speaking, Alex pointed at it. “Seems like that’s been there for a while, right?” she asked.
Jim smiled as he leaned back to look at the green streak. “Was my story that boring?”
“Are you going to give me crap about looking up at the sky when it’s so beautiful tonight?”
“When you put it like that, I’ll pull my foot out of my mouth. And to answer your question, yeah. It does seem odd that it’s been like that for so long.”
Alex stood, walked over to Chine, and grabbed her HUD. She stared through the visor at the streak. “I’m going to check in with HQ about this,” she said before hitting her comm. “Hey, I’d like you to check out my coordinates. I’m seeing an anomaly in the sky. Not quite sure about it. I was just wondering if you could take a look at it or watch it.”
An obnoxiously gruff voice came over the comm. “What are you doing out that far? That’s a restricted area,” the voice chastised.
“No, it’s not,” Alex replied. “There aren’t any restricted areas around the Nest.”
“Oh, well, it’s not for first-year students. That’s what I mean by ‘restricted.’”
It was obvious to Alex that whoever was talking to her was messing around. “Okay, I’m not in the mood to play games right now,” Alex said, certain that whoever was on the comm was someone she knew. “Who is this?”
The gruff voice disappeared and was replaced by the bright, cheery tones of Jollies, a pixie, one of the other members of Team Boundless. “Aw, you suck the fun out of everything,” she whined.
“Only when I’m trying to seriously ask something. What are you doing on watch tonight?” Alex asked.
Jollies sighed as she explained. “Well, first-year students get the short end when it comes to night shifts. Brath and me got them two days in a row. Say hi, Brath.”
Brath’s annoyed voice came through the comm. “I don’t know why I have to say hi,” the gnome groaned. “It’s not like she called me.”
“She didn’t call me either, jerk. She called the night watch, and seeing as how you are also working the night watch, the call applies to you too. Now say hello.”
Brath grumbled under his breath before he said, “Hello. How’s the date going?”
Alex felt her face flush with a mixture of embarrassment and irritation. She had figured Jollies was going to give her a hard time about it, but she would have thought it would be beneath Brath. Although, Brath was Gill’s best friend. It wouldn’t be out of the question to assume Brath was being defensive, but Gill hadn’t seemed the least bit bothered by Alex and Jim going on a date.
Jollies erupted into gales of giggles at Brath’s question. “Oh, my goodness, I completely forgot you two were on a date right now. Are you guys holding hands? Did he kiss you yet? Does he smell good, like cologne-good, or did he just decide to go the human ‘this is how I smell’ route? You should have tried the pixie perfume I told you about, the one my mom sent me. It’s soooo good, and I think you would have loved it. But I need details—”
Alex interrupted Jollies. “I’m still on the date. Like, Jim’s right here next to me.”
“Oh. Kinda awkward to be talking on the comm while you’re on a date.”
Jim’s voice came on. “Just so you all know, the comm is an open channel. I can hear you.”
Alex wished she could shrivel up and fade from the realm.
Jim spoke again. “Whatever we are doing is our business, though, Jollies. Maybe you should ask Alex when the entire Nest doesn’t have the ability to hear you.”
Alex could imagine Jollies pouting. If there was one thing the pixie hated, it was having her fun taken away from her. She would probably be upset about this for the next couple of days. Even if Alex told her roommate what happened in explicit detail, it wouldn’t be enough. She wouldn’t be satisfied.
“Fine,” Jollies finally said. “I’ll talk to you in private about it when you get back, Alex. But I’m going to want all the details. Even things you don’t want to admit to yourself.”
“Sheesh, Jollies, you make it sound horrifying.”
Alex could practically see Jollies turning a different color as she spoke, jumping from red to black and maybe deep purple. “All the details,” the pixie growled. Then her voice returned to its chipper tones. “So, what was it you wanted to talk to us about?”
Alex had almost forgotten the reason she had called the night watch. “There’s a weird light in the sky near Jim and me,” she explained. “I didn’t think anything of it at first, but I don’t know, it doesn’t look right. It reminds me of the meteor we just recently fought.”
Jollies was all business now. Alex wondered how long the pixie had been helping with the night watch. “Oh, then that would be something to pay attention to,” Jollies said as professionally as she could be. “It’s a good thing you two were out that way. Nothing is showing up on our screens.”
“Yeah, I thought it was really weird-looking. So, what now? Will you guys stay up all night watching it?”
“You know, that’s exactly what we’re going to end up doing. Night watch is so boring. Even if there isn’t anything important about the light, there’s nothing else to do. Brath is refusing to talk to me. Jim gave him some sort of human video game, and he hasn’t put it down, even though he’s supposed to be helping me with my dragon anatomy quiz.”
There was some scuffling over the comm, and Brath yelped in either fear or irritation. “Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing with that?” the gnome shouted. “I swear, if anything happens to it, Jim is going to kill me. And I’ll help you with your damn quiz. We’re going to be here all night. Don’t see what the huge rush is.”
Finally, the commotion settled down. Alex had enjoyed the brief chat, but she was much more interested in hanging out with Jim than listening to Jollies and Brath argue. Before Alex could disconnect, she heard Brath asking her to hold on. “Looks like we got a problem,” Brath said. “That’s not a meteor. That’s a ship, and it’s still coming down.”
Alex sighed, remembering the meteor she’d come across. It had been a living ship that had warped reality around itself. If this was anything like that, it was going to take the whole Nest to deal with it. The last one had almost killed most of Boundless and had resulted in Alex losing her arm. This was the least ideal way a date could have ended up.
Jim was already on his feet, climbing into his mech. Guess that was the end of the date.
Alex had hoped Jim would be happy leaving this for someone else to take care of, but she and Jim were the closest. It made sense for them to check it out. Still, Alex had been hoping to at least get kissed before risking her life aga
in.
Chapter Five
Alex and Jim thanked the pixies, bade them goodbye, and made their way toward where they expected the ship to come down. It was difficult to tell the trajectory from where they were. Alex wondered if the ship had the same kind of reality-warping abilities as the meteor they’d come across before since both shared the same green streak.
From where Alex was, she figured it could take up to two hours to get to the meteor if it was descending. She logged this information back to the Nest, hoping someone would know what to do with the intel. Being out all night on a mission was the last thing the rider wanted.
Usually, Alex would have jumped at the chance to investigate something like this. She’d always been about the mission, regardless of what it was. Something had been different recently, though, if only just the last few days. Getting up and going to class was a drag. Even running through combat scenarios had been more lackluster than usual.
The only thing she’d been looking forward to in a while was having some alone time with Jim. Now it looked like that time would be spoiled.
“Chine, what do you make of that thing up ahead?” Alex asked aloud.
Chine snorted loudly as he turned his head to look at the streak of green light. Here I was thinking you had forgotten about me, the dragon said, chuckling. I didn’t realize humans were so one-track-minded when they fell in love.”
Alex switched over to her purely mental channel with him and snapped, Don’t tell me you’re jumping on board with the immaturity. I would have thought this was above your dragon stateliness.
There’s nothing in my code of honor or action that dictates that I can’t have fun or make jokes. Not that you have to worry about it happening often. I like a little teasing, Dustling. As for the streak, I am uncertain. From here, I cannot tell what it is, but it does not fill me with the dread I felt from the rock that we saw before. Whatever this is, I assume it is more benign.
