Tytiana

by Marc Secchia

  Amazing parents.

  There they were, Isimi kneeling on her chair and Hanzaki sitting bolt-upright as ever, as Shalanya joked about her new ownership of House Cyraxana. “Oh, and I annexed Pla’arna Cluster in the name of Immadia, too. Did Jakani tell you that? No? Stupidly modest, I’ll have you know. I suppose he didn’t tell you, either, that between them, he and Tytiana defeated over a hundred pirate Dragons all at once? There was this huge battle in the cavern where she was being held, and they basically just chewed up the biggest, roughest, toughest crowd of Dragons you have ever seen. It was a sight to behold, I tell you. Then, they petitioned me to free all the Human slaves up there. So far we’ve found 5,459 people who were enslaved underground. Some had lived their entire lives with barely a sight of the suns.”

  “Terrible,” said Hanzaki.

  “Well, Jakani didn’t get that far with his story,” Isimi put in.

  Cyanku and her family had talked about coming to Helyon Island, Tytiana remembered. They still needed to work out how that could be arranged. The fresh air and suns-shine would be wonderful for them; it seemed Pla’arna had little to offer by way of arable land, but quite a number of the slaves had wanted to remain there. She must talk to Shalanya about how they could support those people in making new lives for themselves.

  “I have to tell you this part! They make the most fantastic team,” Shalanya continued to expound. “Jakani has these crazy moves, like – hai! Hiiiiya! And he drops Dragons three times his size! I’ve never heard of strength like that. I mean, I’m reasonably strong in my Dragoness-form, but Jakani’s kind of insane! You should have seen what he did to my holding cell. Practically tore it to pieces.”

  “You’re a real Shapeshifter?” Sokadan asked.

  “Aye.” She nodded soberly. “Pink and white Dragoness, in keeping with my Human colouration. Now, noble Jakani is really cool. He’s a –”

  “Hey, anyone thirsty?” Jakani said loudly. “Can I raid the water barrel?”

  “Noble Jakani?” his father echoed.

  A shiver ran up Tytiana’s spine. He hadn’t – no. Surely? How exactly did one break this sort of news to parents, anyways? His father’s face had gone very grim indeed. Blank. Inwardly furious. As if sensing the change in mood, Wink leaped off her shoulder and reappeared on Airi’s lap. The little girl gave a squeak of delight. Wink curled up there with a quite astonishing degree of smugness.

  “Did I hear right?” Hanzaki asked.

  “I’ll carry on with the tale in just a moment,” Jakani said, his desperation starting to show. Her heart throbbed for his pain.

  “Hanzaki, it’s all going to be different now,” Isimi continued peaceably. “I’m sure Jakani and the Choice Tytiana – I mean – oh no. Have you – you aren’t trying to tell us in a nice way that it’s over between you?”

  “Mom, no,” he spluttered.

  “Definitely not that,” his father insisted. “I was quite certain I heard –”

  “Well, Choice Tytiana? Were the differences just too much?” Isimi’s motherly protectiveness developed fangs across the table. “Were we not good enough for you in the final judgement?”

  “Mom!”

  “Isimi,” Hanzaki said severely, “we cannot speak to the Choice like this!”

  Nor could Tytiana stand the depth of distress in Jakani’s mother’s eyes. ‘Am I too crippled for you, Choice? Is our family too raggedy and unwashed?’ All those years of pain. She must think the very worst of a wealthy heiress’ intentions.

  “Mister and Mrs Sakazi, I love your son quite unreasonably – I mean, that came out so badly,” she stammered, willing her flame … begging … but it would not be stanched. Her hair came alive behind her. “I’ll never stop loving him! But, I just can’t – oh, how do I even begin …” Isimi’s expression almost screamed, ‘Prove it! Liar!’ “I want you to know that Jakani is my forever-love, and that I’d swear – oh, to hells with all these taboos! Watch this. I’ll show you exactly how I feel!”

  Grabbing Jakani about the neck as he shouted in dismay, Tytiana kissed his cheek as close to his mouth as she could. Lingeringly. Thou, Jakani. Lips soft yet demanding. He could not resist. Despite all his fear and panic, his head turned unbidden to return her kiss with incandescent, explosive passion. Thou, oh, thou! Oh!

  “Ew, gross,” said Mayoko.

  Isimi made a soft approving noise. Hanzaki was probably imagining a lightning-bolt would flash from the heavens and immolate them all for this transgression.

  This time, Tytiana felt the moment Jakani changed. The magic’s rising, ineffable and infinitely complex. He could no less have prevented Shifting than the Moons could have stopped in their orbits. But what he did do, was fling himself backward so that his Dragon-body, all twenty-nine feet of it from muzzle-tip to tail, burst into being in the space between the bench at the table and the front doorway. The wall groaned and bulged, while the bench tipped over forwards. His tail curled into his parents’ bedroom, while his head and upper torso curved around the back of Sokadan’s high seat to rest upon Flicker’s back.

  There was a silence that more than defined the word.

  Despite that she was squashed against the table, Tytiana groaned, “Oh Jakani, I’m sorry I’m such an impulsive idiot sometimes.”

  “Suffering caroli!” he groaned back. “I guess this makes me the proverbial Dragon in the room?”

  * * * *

  Turning aside to the demure beauty seated beside him, Sokadan said drolly, “Cool! Do all your family’s kisses do that, o Choice Quiraeli?”

  Flicker was the first to snort with laughter. Shalanya’s high-pitched peals of merriment followed, and then Hanzaki’s stern demeanour cracked to allow several gruff barks of disbelieving laughter to emerge. Poor Quiraeli had no idea where to look. She turned a magnificent shade of pink and started giggling nervously. Airi and Sariaki just sat there with their mouths hanging agape. As for his mother, Jakani could not even begin to imagine what she thought. He pressed his double-eyelids shut and wished this humiliation were over.

  The large white dragonet pushed out from beneath his neck, shook out his wings with a dry rustle, and said, “Amongst a rare race, Jakani is a rarity indeed. His heart, his courage and his skills set him apart, and I daresay, standing here beside this hearth, I can see that the character of this family is one of the finest strengths of his heritage. I compliment you upon raising a fine son, and a very fine Shapeshifter Dragon, Mister and Mrs Sakazi.” Another rustle? Was that a wingtip-genuflection? “You see now reason for the fires and the signature strength within him; also for the fires that he and Tytiana share. I believe she is another kind of Shapeshifter, but we will not have confirmation until we travel to Fra’anior Cluster to meet the man we hope is her true father.”

  How desperately he appreciated Flicker for taking command of this moment; for giving them all a second’s chance to breathe, to think, to react.

  Flicker said, “I believe Jakani may not have had chance to relate how, at Immadia’s Royal Palace, we found in the downstairs a picture of a family who must have without a doubt been your long-ago ancestors. The man, Jinichi, was a famous Nikuko warrior and a Shapeshifter Dragon. The heritage of Shapeshifters can be very peculiar indeed. Their powers can repeat every generation, or skip many generations. Fires can rise spontaneously within people, as they do with some Dragons who discover the power to change into a Human form – just as the ballads teach us. And that makes Jakani a member of a noble lineage that traces its origins back to my very own Hualiama Dragonfriend. By word, deed and nature, Jakani and Tytiana are noble Dragons indeed.”

  Tytiana gasped, “Flicker, you’re fading …”

  Jakani’s eyes snapped open. “Flicker? What the –”

  “My work here is done, and the fires call me home,” he said softly, rising into the air without the slightest movement of his wings. His body had begun to glow like the softest starlight playing upon snow. “Shalanya, it was a privilege. Jakani, Tytiana, and all y
our families – likewise. Wink, come with me now. I have some people I want you to meet; people I have missed for far too long.”

  Shalanya cried, “Flicker, wait! What about Fra’anior Cluster?”

  “I’ll pass you the image in a dream tonight,” he whispered. “I’ll return Wink to you soon, my precious ones. Fly well, fly high; fly with Fra’anior to all the Islands of your lives!”

  Even as Jakani bowed, and his father stood to bow respectfully, Flicker faded from their sight. Wink stood up in Airi’s lap, gave everyone what had to be the cheekiest little chirrup in existence accompanied by a long, slow wink of her left eye, and promptly winked out of existence.

  “So named, so she is,” he snorted softly.

  Tytiana said, “Jakani, could you try sucking in your ribs so that I can actually move, or could we shift this table a foot or so that-a-way?”

  But his attention was upon Hanzaki, who had stepped up to the hearth stones and was regarding him with one of his fatherly-inscrutable expressions. He said, “You truly are Jakani? You expect me to believe I have raised a Dragon?”

  “Aye, father. I’m sorry I couldn’t … it was too hard to say,” he said, lifting his head to return his father’s scrutiny. “Is this as weird for you as it is for me?”

  “Aye, more than! To hear ballads and then to experience the reality in your own flesh and blood!” He shook his head slowly. “Holy Fra’anior! I am breathless with awe. So did I understand correctly that you three, together with Flicker and his egg, rescued Tytiana, destroyed the pirate cabals, annexed an entire Cluster, freed thousands of slaves, defeated a High Master of Helyon, and return with a plan to change every social structure this Island has ever known – plus, you’re a Dragon?”

  “That’s … uh, fairly … accurate. Aye.”

  “I cannot imagine how hard that was – and this is,” his father said, and bowed to him. Deeply. “Hai-hakairi! Noble Jakani, my son. Hai-hakairi! Noble Tytiana. Hai-hakairi! Noble Shalanya.”

  His entire draconic being jolted. Such a commendation! “I … am honoured beyond words, father.”

  Isimi quavered, “Come over here, Jakani.”

  “I – I’ll squash someone. I think. Would you?” He reached a paw around to her seat, and sucked in his flank at the same time. Tytiana made her escape. Isimi scrambled aboard, fitting neatly into his palm, and he drew her close.

  She touched his cheek gently, near the eye where the scales were unexpectedly responsive. “Jakani?”

  “Mom.”

  “Aye, I see the mischief in your eyes.”

  “Weirdly, it is me inside here, Mom. Just the same Jakani, but different at the same time. All my memories are intact, but it seems my thoughts and perceptions are processed through different channels and filters. Including magic. My core values and honour remain the same, but possessing this kind of power is an enormous change. I remain Jakani, your son.”

  She breathed, “Alright. Forgive me – forgive us, Jakani, if this takes some getting used to. All of this!”

  Shalanya said, “Airi, this means you can ask your brother for rides whenever you like. Right up into the sky.”

  Airi did not look at all convinced, but Sariaki clapped her hands excitedly.

  “Uh, not right now,” said the Onyx-Gold Dragon. “I’m too exhausted to shift again, and I couldn’t fit out of the doorway if I tried. Can we settle for a little storytelling – the full story, this time? With Dragons?”

  * * * *

  With the storytelling done, sleepy children having been whisked off into bed, and the Choices having departed by means of scrambling over his five-foot-tall rump, together with the Princess of Immadia, Jakani the Dragon settled down for a good snooze. At least his parents had not screamed or fainted or tried to break broomsticks over his spiky head. However, the whispering in their room did take a very long time to abate. He had to hum to himself to stop his excellent Dragon hearing from picking up every word. Airi had given him a kiss goodnight.

  That made a great many things very much better indeed.

  He supposed having a Dragon for a big brother could be pretty amazing for someone who was knocking on seven. Mayoko had just ordered him not to Dragon-snore. Or else.

  In the morning, Airi woke him up by expedient of jumping on his nose and demanding her Dragon-ride, right now! So this was what it felt like to be a novelty. Only, he could not fit out of the front door without doing some ambitious architectural redesign, so he was forced to transform twice, and that definitely clued him in to the fact that this was not an every-hour activity.

  Then, he took his little sister for her first flight. Wow! What a dawn! What fun they had together, with Airi clasped safely in his paws, and her alternatively chuckling helplessly, peppering him with questions, and commenting about all the sights as he wheeled over Helyon Island. For his part, the wonder just swelled inside his soul until he reached a state of strange fire-exultation. To fly was a freedom and a gift priceless beyond imagination. To a man steeped in a culture of honour, the implications were also immense, for he knew that power also entailed responsibility.

  Later, he flew up to House Cyraxana to find ten relatives departing in various states of high dudgeon and disgust. He supposed the news would be all over Helyon Island within the hour. They certainly knew to glower at an Onyx-Gold Dragon. Jakani stared them down. Bah. Puny Humans!

  Unholy caroli, where had that thought sprung from?

  He strolled up the front steps, talons clicking sharply on the white stone, and poked his muzzle inside the front door. It was more than wide and tall enough for a Dragon. “Busy morning, Choice Zihaeri? All calm in House Cyraxana?”

  “They were gobbling up our household budget anyways,” Zihaeri growled, in place of ‘Islands’ greetings,’ or something polite. “And take your flunkies with you!”

  “More profit for me,” Shalanya said, rubbing her hands gleefully.

  Jakani carefully retracted his talons to avoid scratching up their pristine white marble floors, thinking, at least no servants were fainting today. “You two are enjoying this far too much.”

  “Would we?” the Princess batted her eyelashes playfully.

  Zihaeri sighed. “More work for me.”

  “To work, minion!” Shalanya chortled. Apparently the Choice was in no mood to find this funny.

  Tytiana called from upstairs, on the first landing, “Noble Dragon, what think you of this for a casual dress to wear to the wedding?”

  He raised his muzzle. Deep apricot with golden flames rising from the hem and deep-cut sleeves? He involuntarily spurted flame out of his nostrils, crisping an indoor plant, rather sadly. The rumbling of what he belatedly realised was his draconic fires reached a throbbing pitch.

  She seemed suitably gratified by his reaction, whirling impetuously to address whomever she had just been speaking to. “Very good! Jakani likes this one. Tailor! I need this adjusted by this afternoon. Oh, noble Dragon? You need to come up to be measured. This is a royal wedding. No bare feet allowed.”

  “Ah … I was kind of planning to slink around as a Dragon. Invisibly.”

  Her effervescent laughter echoed throughout the tall main hallway, three stories high. He was so lost inside a house this size. What did one do with all these rooms? Were they just for show? She called down, “Alright, mister handsome-scales, you do look mighty fine in your native dress, but I suspect there will be occasions where Human-standard attire may be necessary. And I certainly don’t want all those Dragonesses out there panting over your gorgeous colouration and making shameless fire-eyes at my man.”

  “Can I just wear you instead? Most perfect draconic raiment ever.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shalanya pretend to applaud. ‘Smooth,’ she mouthed. He started to scowl at her, then smiled. Toothily.

  With a squeal of annoyance, a rather more fiery Tytiana than before vanished from sight.

  “Huh. Can I handle women, or what?” he grunted. Zihaeri and Shalanya stared o
pen-mouthed at him. “And my tongue is an instrument of equal poetry and idiocy, alright?”

  Zihaeri made a ‘did I say anything?’ gesture.

  “I’ll be sure to remind you of that every minute for the rest of your life,” said the Immadian Princess. “Shoo, sulphur-breath, we women are busy making important plans here.”

  “Like what to wear every minute of said day?”

  “Exactly.”

  Jakani purred, “Zihaeri, remind me to make a list of every eligible Prince who will be attending the wedding, won’t you? I feel that the Princess of Extravagant Pink Sparkles has been sorely lacking entertainment in her cold, remote Northern home. On the other paw, what say you we pay someone to kidnap her?”

  “Silence, thou musty yokel!”

  Well, wasn’t that the problem? He had no clue how to behave at a royal wedding. Nor how to meet potential family that happened to include only the most famous clutch of Dragons in history. Feeling very much that plank-tongued peasant, Jakani sloped off to start his exercise in humiliation. Two minutes later, Sariaki collared him and demanded a flying lesson. Oh, if he had to! Tailors later.

  Tytiana was not impressed.

  * * * *

  After a day in which Jakani frustrated the living spiders out of her by seeming to want to play with her sister rather than take seriously the matter of preparing for one of the most important events of her life, Tytiana slept restlessly and woke with a headache worthy of the Dragoness she seemed unable to become. This was the day. By the sounds of her rattling shutters a squall had set in, bringing soaking rain and a blustery wind that seemed the farthest weather from perking up her jittery mood. Suffering spiders! She leaped out of bed with a low yelp. Aye, the sheets were smouldering and Zihaeri would be having kittens over the cost of the damage.

  Bringing a crystal jug of water from the bathroom, she made sure that the fire was completely dampened. Great start to her morning.

  After a quick breakfast, Princess Shalanya joined her in the hallway and they packed a few last-minute necessities into a quartet of leather Dragon saddlebags.