New Beginnings

by Jada Fisher

Dinner Plans

  “What are you?”

  Ukrah looked up from the bowl of warm, steaming soup in front of her. It was filled with things she didn’t recognize, but had smelled so nice that she’d dug in as soon as Crispin had given her the nod that she was alright.

  “I…” How was she supposed to answer that?

  “Eist, maybe expound on th-that.”

  “Hmm, right. Okay, do you have any idea why I might have felt you?” Her husband cleared his throat. “Fine, right. I’ve been spending too much time around Dille. I don’t have to overexplain everything to her.”

  “Dille is a witch who lived three different eras and traveled through time with you.”

  Wait, what?

  “You’re right. You’re right.” The God-Woman sighed and rubbed the thick bridge of her nose—which looked like it might have been broken once or twice. “Alright, so…imagine that magic is all around us. Kind of like water. It has an ebb and a flow and a current. I used to be able to see the little tendrils of it everywhere. But, for reasons which are too complicated to go into right now, I was cut off from all of that. For the past five years, I haven’t felt any of it.

  “Until you. I can’t explain it. One moment, I was just standing in front of that stupid tailor’s mirror, the next I could feel something…calling to me, I guess. I followed it, and the next thing I know, you’re right there. It’s interesting to know that you were looking for me too. If I didn’t know better, I would think that you were calling for me purposefully.”

  “I… I don’t think I was,” Ukrah said after Tayir translated.

  “But you do have magic, yes?”

  “I…”

  “She turned several guards to ashes, but not the horses,” Crispin blurted suddenly, and Ukrah gave him an intense look. He mouthed an apology to her, but what was said was already said.

  “I’m sorry, you what? You killed men?”

  Ukrah felt her cheeks burn. Surely this was how she was to be kicked out and turned over to someone who could rid the world of her. “They… They were going to hurt Crispin.”

  The God-Woman looked to him and he nodded. “I got caught stealing things so Ukrah could get to you. They were going to hang me.”

  “So you saved him?”

  Ukrah nodded.

  “And have you done this before?”

  She hesitated but figured if she wasn’t going to be honest with the God-Woman, there was no reason to have sought her out. So, she nodded.

  “When? What was happening?”

  Ukrah knew she should probably tell her, but she didn’t want those words to come out of her mouth. She’d mostly been able to tuck away the whole thing in the back of her mind, so narrating them for the God-Woman would bring all of them to the surface again. After a long pause, she shook her head.

  “No? What do you mean, no?”

  She made several sounds that might have been words, but didn’t really make sense in either of their languages. Crispin, the clever boy that he clearly was, quickly stepped in. “You were protecting someone, right? Someone or something was threatening you?”

  She supposed that was correct and nodded.

  “And that was the only other time?”

  Another nod.

  “Alright, fine. I’ll take it. Clearly, you’ve got a magical connection, but it’s interesting that you’re only able to use it in defense, and that you were powerful enough to kill men without intending to. I don’t think I could have done that until I was at the height of my power.”

  “You mean when you were a god?” Ukrah asked before she could stop herself.

  That made the table grow very quiet, and Ukrah looked right back down into her soup.

  “I’m not a god. And I never was. I was…a vessel, at best, and I put things the way they should be, nothing more.” Her lips pressed into a thin line. “Or at least I tried my best to. Not sure how successful I was.”

  “What do you mean—”

  “In any case, we need to have you assessed.”

  “Assessed?” Her mind shot back to that slave cabin and how her worth was appraised by those old men who saw her as a thing and not a person.

  “Yes. Dille has a series of tests. Of course, I’d love to give them myself, but again, no magic. Except—” She cut herself off and shook her head. “Tomorrow. After we break the fast.”

  “What will I do?”

  “I’m actually not entirely sure. Dille usually handles the tests, and I deal with other things.”

  “…it hurt?”

  The woman looked startled at that. “What? No! No, it shouldn’t at all.” She winced and shook her head before recovering. “I’m sorry, I tend to get ahead of myself lately. Let me explain things.

  “No matter whatever it was that drew me to you, you are a guest here. Not a prisoner. Not a slave. Not a servant. No one here will hurt you, and you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. If at any point you’re scared, or need something explained to you, we can stop everything until you feel ready to go again. I apologize. I tend to treat things as a matter of course.”

  “Like being in the path of a hurricane,” Athar remarked quietly before his wife shot him a look.

  “You’re not helping.”

  “I’m not?” he asked with a playfully shocked expression.

  “You’re lucky you’re so handsome,” the God-Woman muttered before looking back to Ukrah. “In short, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. I just believe that fate has definitely brought us together for a reason, and I think this test of ours might put us on the right path to figuring out exactly what it wants.

  “And maybe all it wants is for us to teach you ways to make sure you don’t accidentally ash people anymore. That would be fine. I just want to make sure you know that none of this is going to be forced on you. Do you understand that?”

  Ukrah was overwhelmed by a lot of different feelings. Relief. Curiosity. Worry that she would somehow ruin it. But there, curled low in her belly, was hope. It had been a while since she’d felt it so brightly, and it started to flow through her, ebbing all the worry and fear that had been tinging all of her thoughts.

  “I do.”

  “Very well then. Now, once we’re done eating, how about I introduce you to our dragons?”

  Ukrah’s heart jumped and her eyes snapped wide at that. “N-now? Today?”

  “Well, I’d like to finish my meal and I’m sure they would as well, but once we’re done.”

  Ukrah nodded so emphatically that she almost knocked over the goblet beside her.

  “Alright then, sounds like a plan. But don’t go wolfing down your food to get to them faster. You don’t want to upset your stomach and bring it all up. I imagine you’ve been through quite a bit to get from the desert to here.”

  That was one way to put it.

  “Yes,” Ukrah said before digging into her soup with renewed enthusiasm. It was delicious and warming, but she hardly tasted it over her own excitement.

  Finally, after her whole life hearing about them, after months of dreaming about them, she was going to meet one in the flesh.

  They walked across a wide, grassy stretch that was just so big that Ukrah couldn’t help but wonder what possible use they could have for all that space. There was a city just beyond the gate, and it seemed plenty crowded, so why was there so much open space around them? Where were the other witches and the refugees?

  She didn’t know, and she didn’t linger on that thought, because the God-Woman let out a whistle and a deep rumble issued from below their feet. Ukrah stumbled, Crispin catching her by a shoulder, and the next thing she knew, several massive shapes were flying up out of a large building just a handful of strides away.

  Ukrah covered her eyes, ducking away from the noise and shadows on instinct, but a moment later, she untensed. Looking up, she saw several wheeling silhouettes that were absolutely unmistakable.

  “Dragons,” Ukrah breathed, her eyes locked upwards.

/>   Oh sure, drool all over them, the big brutes. They’ve been around forever but ooooooh, how magnificent. Yeah, because blowing fire is so impressive.

  Ukrah ignored Tayir’s grumbling as two of the dragons gracefully circled downward. They were both truly large, blotting out the sun at certain points, although one of them was much bigger than the other. By the time they reached the ground, they well and truly stole Ukrah’s breath away.

  They both were beautiful—one a giant, scarlet being with truly massive wings and brightly polished scales. There were a handful of scars and slashes across its breathtaking, shining flanks, but they didn’t take away from its splendor. As soon as it landed, it trundled over to Athar and pressed its massive nose to the man’s upper body.

  “Haha, that’s my girl. Looking for more treats?”

  The dragon wuffled happily, continuing to nuzzle the man, and Ukrah’s gaze drifted to the other dragon.

  While the first had been massive and bounding, with wide wings and plenty of girth to her, the second was the complete opposite. Sure it was big, all dragons were, but it was slight and very clearly built for speed as opposed to the other one. Its head was more shovel-like, rounded, rather than the long, almost canine jaw of the other dragon, and its scales were something else entirely.

  Small, rounded, and perfect, Ukrah could spot shining bronze, glimmering copper, deep, dark umber along with the slightest hint of rusted red. It was an impressive combination, one that reminded her of when she had knelt in front of her tribe’s offering at the last pilgrimage they had taken to the great kingdom when she was very young.

  The beast let out a lilting chirp, practically bouncing over to the God-Woman and knocking her over with a playful lunge. Ukrah let out a gasp, but the two of them were all laughs and squeals.

  Wait… Could a dragon laugh?

  Ukrah just stood there, watching, but she was sure that she heard two tones of mirth, even though only Eist was laughing.

  As if it could hear her mental question, the dragon stopped enthusiastically licking the God-Woman’s face and looked over to Ukrah curiously. Surprisingly, the creature’s eyes weren’t green or red or blue or any of the other colors one might expect. Instead, those eyes were a shining, iridescent crystalline, staring right through her.

  There was a moment of stillness, some meaning hanging between the two of them, and then the dragon was stalking forward. It reminded Ukrah of a cat approaching something it might not be sure of, something it was hunting, and she wasn’t sure if she should run or go on the offensive.

  But instead of either of those, she just stood in place, waiting until it reached her. Its breath was warm, so warm, across her body and smelled faintly of roasted meat and greenery. It was taller than her, because of course, but not that much more. Its head was wider than her, however, and its head pressed into her abdomen before sliding upwards.

  “Huh, that’s odd,” the God-Woman remarked, standing and wiping off her hands. “He normally doesn’t…” Whatever she said and Tayir translated faded out of Ukrah’s perception as the dragon lowered itself so their eyes were level.

  Old Friend

  That voice! It was barely there, just curled around her ear, and more of a breath than anything. It wasn’t like Tayir’s words. More like a fleeting idea that glanced across her mind. It was gone as soon as it was created, fleeing in the wake of a rough, slightly barbed tongue sliding up her entire face.

  “Fior! I…” Suddenly, Eist was beside her, pushing both of her small hands against the dragon’s shovel-like head, urging him backward. “I’m sorry, he really doesn’t act like this normally. At least it was friendly, right?”

  She laughed uncertainly, but all Ukrah could do was stare at the two of them, trying to figure out how much of that was real and how much was just in her very weary head. She’d built up meeting dragons in her head for ages, but none of those imaginings had involved a strange, dreamlike sigh in her mind.

  “Well, the good thing is that he likes you. If Fior isn’t fond of someone, they’re not anyone I’d want to trust.”

  Ukrah nodded slowly, her words thick on her tongue, before a cry sounded above them. Glancing up, she had completely forgotten that there was a group of six or seven dragons above, all circling at the God-Woman’s whistle.

  “What do you th-think they’re on about?” Athar asked before the group started wheeling downward just like the original two dragons.

  “I don’t— This isn’t normal,” Eist murmured before the dragons touched down, one right after the other, forming a ring around them.

  No, forming a ring around her.

  It was bizarre and important all at once. Abruptly, she found herself staring into the eyes of several dragons and feeling the intense breathing of the rest of them. They closed in on her, slowly, intently, but not menacingly.

  “Uh, should we be worried?” Crispin asked, his voice high and barely on the edge of her mind.

  “Shhh,” the strange girl, Cassinda, whispered. “Something is happening.”

  Was it?

  Ukrah stood stock still, and soon the dragons were all close enough to smell her, and they did so, one at a time. Gentle but thorough, she found herself sniffed from nose to toes. No one spoke while the entire event happened, and she didn’t hear any more sighing voices.

  It couldn’t have taken that long, and yet it felt like an entire eternity, all of them locked into that moment in the grassy yard.

  Well, this is interesting.

  One of the dragons, with their shining, crystalline eyes, snapped its teeth closed right in front of the bird, as if it had heard the irreverence in his tone.

  That’s just rude! the bird exclaimed, taking to the sky and wheeling away to a safer distance. I didn’t even do anything.

  Ukrah doubted that, but she didn’t answer him, her eyes locked on the dragon in front of her, her senses reeling from the ones surrounding her. They were all the same type as Fior, all compact and built for speed with their shovel-like heads, yet each one was different. One was very small, with an undertone of black all along his belly. One was larger, and his eyes were far more cat-like than any of the others. Little things, but they all added up to make each one an individual.

  And then, just as abruptly as it all had started, Fior let out a huff and the dragons scattered, each of them taking to the sky so quickly that the sudden downdrafts battered the humans gathered there.

  There was a beat of silence once they were all gone, as if everyone was trying to puzzle out what had just happened, but the God-Woman’s dragon let out a strange, happy sort of chirp and trotted back to Ukrah, sitting right beside her and curling his tail around her feet.

  “Yeah,” Eist murmured, the first one to talk out of anyone and sounding absolutely gobsmacked. “Definitely need to get you to Dille first thing in the morning.”

  Ukrah nodded, heart beating in her chest. She had no idea what had happened—apparently, she wasn’t alone in that—but some part of her couldn’t help but think that something incredibly important had just happened. Something life changing.

  Maybe even something she could never come back from.

  4

  No Such Thing as Pass or Fail

  Ukrah licked her lips nervously, feeling like she could fall over at any second. She’d never been antisocial with her tribe, but she’d never really been in the limelight either. Not until…well, that night.

  But as she stood in the center of a room, Governess Dille, the God-Woman, and her husband standing in a balcony above, she couldn’t help but feel as if there were thousands watching her.

  There weren’t, of course, just the three. Yet she couldn’t shake the feeling all the same.

  She wished Tayir was visible, his constant stream of complaining sounded just on the edge of her mind, but he seemed to be perched somewhere outside. No, she was completely alone in this large room.

  And it was a strange room as well. Large and circular, the floor was a swirling stone that made h
er a bit dizzy. There were lanterns hanging by each pillar surrounding the perimeter of the place, swinging gently. There was the door she came in, several windows set high above her, the balcony the three were standing on, and the only other thing was a table in front of her with a cloth draped over it.

  “What do I do?” she called up.

  “Whatever you feel is right,” Governess Dille said, looking down with an inscrutable expression. She was dressed in surprisingly plain clothes compared to the very official getup she had on when Ukrah first saw her, but then again, she supposed the circumstances were quite different.

  Just do what felt right? What felt right was going back in time before that night she was grabbed up. Back when things were hard, but simple. Back when she didn’t feel so very alone, torn from her people and thrust into something she didn’t understand.

  That wasn’t an option—except that Dille and Eist had both done so—which meant she had to do something else.

  But what?

  Was she just supposed to sit there and do nothing, showing them that she was patient and ready to learn?

  Was she supposed to grab something? Go to the table? Sing a song? She had no idea. It just felt like so much pressure was on her shoulder that she might burst right then and there.

  It was too much. Surely, she wasn’t anything special. The time in her village and the time with the guards were just…mysterious flukes. Unexplainable happenings that actually had nothing to do with her. She wasn’t magic. She wasn’t special.

  Her inner spinning was distracted by a steady thrum from in front of her. Ukrah’s thoughts faded away, leaving only the strange sound thumping in the back of her head and tingling down her spine.

  Her body moved on its own, shuffling forward as her hand reached out. What was on the table? It seemed imperative that she knew. Like the whole world was mounting on what was under that sheet.

  Her fingers touched it, and instead of some sort of explosion, or magical rush, it just fell away. Slipping to a puddle of fabric on the floor, the table was laid bare before her, several objects across its length.