I looked back and forth between them, then started after Akhane. If she wanted me close, I would just thank God that the Eeyrie visit hadn’t taken as long as we’d scheduled, so I still had a free hour before lunch and my next training session.
She was so impatient—which was unlike her—that when I stopped for her harness at the tack room, she took it in her mouth and carried it outside for me, ruffling her wings when we made it out of the building as if she’d felt the confines of it.
‘Akhane, what—’
‘I just want to fly, Bren. It takes me like this sometimes.’
She dropped the harness in the grass at the edge of the launch hollow, and I got her harnessed as quickly as Icould, then mounted. She was moving before I’d even finished strapping in, stepping down the side of the hollow, then gathering herself to launch.
I decided to remain quiet and see what she’d say once we were in the air.
But she didn’t talk to me. I felt her heart lift as we caught the sea-breezes in the sky. Maybe she just wanted to be alone?
It was the first time in weeks that we’d flown just for the fun of it, and I discovered my own heart growing lighter, as if the winds of flight blew away the weight of pressures, and failures, and even the uncertainty of the future.
At one point, as Akhane soared on the air-currents and wheeled, pointing us directly towards the horizon over the sea, I closed my eyes, let my head fall back, and just let my body ride without trying to make her do anything.
Within minutes, my breath was easier, and my head less troubled.
‘This was a good idea, Akhane.’
‘I love flying with you, Bren.’
‘I know. But, there’s obviously something on your mind. Are you afraid you can’t trust me with it?’
‘No, I trust you with anything Bren. I only avoid adding to the burdens we all face. There is nothing new. I am only sad for all of this. This world. Our herd. You… Sometimes I see that speaking those things brings weight, and it is better to give them away. I bring them to the Creator and I am easier. Lighter.’
‘I understand, but, did something happen while I was at the Eeyrie?’
Still flying, Akhane shook her head again.‘The Eeyrie is a difficult place for all the females, Bren. It is the home of hope for our herd, and yet also empty.’
‘Do you know why?’
Akhane didn’t answer immediately, but I felt her turning the question over in her mind and my heart rose. Had she heard something, or was she aware—
‘Life only comes at the hand of the Creator, Bren. It isn’t a dragon’s choice if she will hatch a babe. But how we carry our hatchlings, how we devote ourselves to the herd… that is our choice.’
I was confused. “What do those choices have to do with the breeding?”
‘I don’t know. But the Eeyrie is a place that weighs heavily on my heart. Knowing you walked it this morning, knowing that we may walk it together one day—but not knowing when. It made my heart ache.
‘I cannot tell you this from the Creator, Bren. It is only a thought I have had, but I wonder, is the limiting of our herd a mercy?’
I frowned.‘How would it be a mercy?’
Akhane’s ribs expanded under me as if she took a deep breath.‘If the Creator doesn’t see fit to give us lives to guide, there must be a reason?’she sent quietly. And an image flickered in my mind of good men, Furyknights, growing fewer and fewer. Of dragons searching for men to bond, and not finding them.
‘Akhane… do you mean the dragons or the Furyknights? Who isn’t—’
‘I don’t know, Bren,’she sent.‘And so my heart was heavy. But now, I feel more at peace for telling you,’she said firmly, as if we’d spoken what was important already.‘And I find myself grateful—again—to have you. It is a heartache for a dragon to wish for the bond, or a mate, and not find them. A hole in our souls.’
My head jerked back.‘You can want a mate and not find one?’
‘Of course!’Akhane said, almost laughing.‘We are creatures, Bren. We can wish for many things we cannot have, or should not. It is only by the Creator’s hand that we find our bonds, just as it is only by His hand that you find food to hunt.’
There was the distinct impression that she shrugged, as if this was simple fact. Which I supposed it was. But I hadn’t thought about it for the dragons. They always seemed so certain of their path—and often aware of things before we were.
‘Akhane, are you keeping secrets from me?’
