Dragons. Two of them.No one needs to tell me the other is a dragon as well.So Issa took stock in the rumor I told her.
Mother comes forward with a platter of baked fish, fruit, and raw oysters. Issa takes it from her, and we settle around on driftwood seats beside the fire. My friend sits with the other dragon male, and his wing flutters out to caress her side.
They are bonded. It’s unbelievable.My dear friend has found a dragon of her own.
Despite Zaeyr’s growl, Leith slowly joins us and lowers between Mother and Issa—the furthest place possible from Zaeyr. While we eat in awkward silence, the tribe returns to their laughter and talk, others come to join our gathering.
They’re waiting for my decision. Mother’s gaze falls on me again and again.
I don’t know how much Issa and her dragon know, but they remain courteous, eating. Zaeyr is tense or terse, or both.
Leith asks how Issa and her dragon met, and they tell us their story.
“I stumbled upon Kaos—”the other dragon’s name is Kaos“—when he awoke in the Forbidden Jungle,” Issa says.
“She touched me,” he adds.
Issa chuckles. “Many times, actually.”
“We are bonded.”
“Oh yes, that,” she chuckles louder.
“She is pregnant with our first young.”
Shock falls upon the group.
Mother speaks first. “So it’s true? This bond, this fertility? You know you are with child?”
Kaos nods. “I sense him.”
“Him?” Mother gasps.
Issa wipes her mouth. “Kaos is very sure of his abilities.” She shrugs.
“Are you two… happy?” Mother asks.
Tulia, one of Issa’s half-sisters, joins us and sits down. “So happy it’s sickening. I’m sickened daily by it.” Tulia laughs anyway. “But our tribe could not be more joyous. I have not seen our people so hopeful in many years. We were ended, and now… Now we are not.”
Leith pipes up for the first time. “Sister, I’m so thrilled for you. I will be an uncle! I look forward to the day.”
Issa beams.
Envy strikes me. I clutch Zaeyr’s hand and squeeze it. He squeezes mine in response.Does he sense young too? Will he know when I’m with child?
Father comes to join us at some point.
Delina never shows.
I watch as my friends and family talk and laugh, ask and answer questions, continuing until the food is all gone and nothing but spirits are left to pass between us. Even Zaeyr lets up after a time, and his watchful stare on Kaos eventually comes to an end. Kaos’s glares cease as well.
Whatever it is between them, is gone for now. Knowing all that I know, they were rivals in a way, at some level, but now there’s nothing for them to rival about. I hope.
Happiness returns and I realize how much I enjoy this. I’ve already made up my mind, but now it’s just to tell Mother and the others. Issa and Kaos helped me make up my mind. Seeing them and their tribe so happy… It proves that things can be better—will be better. Change is never easy.
Somehow we’ve been at this all day. And as the sun begins to lower to dusk and the comet’s rays ruddy the land, I clear my throat.
Mother, Father, Leith looks at me. I hold their gazes. “Zaeyr and I have decided to stay. As long as we’re together.” We won’t let them force us apart. They can keep us as is, or not at all.
