I don’t want to leave the kids until Thunar’s gone. Liz eyes him strangely. “Did you need something else?”
I’m coming with you. I hear you’re going to Sydney. I’d like to see a large human city.
“You should’ve come with us yesterday,” Liz says. “Now we have other small tasks to attend to, and it’s not a good time to introduce you to the city.”
Earth child meetings bore me, Thunar says. But you’re going for a short time today. I don’t require any introductions. I’m quite capable of making them myself.
Pretty sure that’s what Liz is worried about.
“We’re going to purchase supplies first, and then we’re picking up the earth children. It will take us some time and be quite boring.” Liz doesn’t even try to disguise her disgust.
I will be. . .what’s the earth child word? He smiles, but it’s not pretty like it is when Liz smiles. It’s the kind of smile I was used to seeing on the blessed. Mean. Irritable. Unattractive. I’ll be patient.
Somehow I doubt that, Liz mutters, and then she forces a grin. “What a lovely surprise for us that your big brother wants to come, Azar. I couldn’t be more delighted.”
Thunar frowns. You say you’re pleased, but you sound the opposite.
“It’s a human thing called sarcasm.” She vaults up to my back, her wings dropping her into place on my back easily. “You’ll probably recognize the sentiment quite often now that you know what it is.”
I open the portal and wait for Thunar to follow us through.
How’s your portal so large? I can tell from his tone that Thunar expected me to struggle to open one large enough for him.
I’m entwined, I say. It comes with some perks. There are things you might consider when you demand a way to forgo the earth child bond.
I would never entwine with one of them, Thunar says, and I can’t argue with him on that. I’m sure he wouldn’t.
Liz had me portal above the Sydney harbor—it’s the spot the government designated for routine portaling. I can tell as I watch Thunar’s face that he’s impressed with Sydney and all its buildings in the distance. The humans before must not have had cities quite so impressive.
Humans have improved their dwellings in the thousands of years we’ve been gone.
“It’s amazing what you can do when dragons aren’t constantly attacking and demanding things of you,” Liz mutters.
These towers aren’t something we need or care about, so your advances are meaningless to us.
When I shift into my human form to help Liz find her supplies, I can tell Thunar’s irritated. He’s stuck flying around in circles overhead—he’s too large to land almost anywhere, and he certainly can’t walk through the streets with us. Liz loads me up with bags of food, Christmas decorations, and gifts that seem strange to me, but will apparently appeal to the hatchlings.
Thunar’s clearly growing impatient as the day proceeds. His circles around Sydney have become both faster and smaller.
“I guess your brother’s determined to ruin our day.” Liz sighs. “But—” Her eyes widen and she grabs my arm. “Axel, look.”
She points, but all I see is the back of an old woman who’s ducking into a store. Liz doesn’t wait for me to follow. She darts off like a feral animal trying to escape detection.
I don’t want to drop all her treasures, but I’m not sure what else to do. After a moment’s dithering, I abandon them, but even so, it’s hard to follow her quickly in this form. I can still feel her location, thanks to our bond, but I can’t see her with my own eyes anymore, and I don’t like it. I’m about to shift into my flame blessed form so I can more easily catch up when I hear a massive whamming sound up ahead. It’s hard to draw on the bond and also navigate at the same time, so I focus on pushing through dozens of holiday shoppers until I break into a large courtyard.
The sound was Thunar landing in the center of the plaza. He’s holding a woman between his claws, peering at her. It’s an old woman I believe I’ve seen once before, on the day I burst from the volcano. She was the old woman to whose house Liz flew the very first time I ever saw her.
Or, at least, that’s my first recollection of seeing her after losing my memories.
Liz gestures for Thunar to put her down.
I finally reach her side.
“Hey.” Liz smiles when she sees me. Then she frowns. “Wait, where are all the bags?”
I blink. “You ran. I?—”
“You’ll have to go back and get them,” she says. “Unless you think this little old woman is someone I can’t handle.”
