1
KAILIN
"Heroes are not born from desire but from necessity. They arise when the world demands it, often despite themselves."
—Shaman Saphir Fatewever
My new dress uniform was a beautiful shade of midnight blue, the silver embroidery marking me as a cadet of the Dragon Force, but it was too tight, and not because I'd regained any of the weight I'd lost during the night of my epic prophetic dream. Splitting my consciousness between so many creatures and warning hundreds of dragons had taken more out of me than seemed possible in the span of eight hours, but I wasn't complaining. It was such a small sacrifice given that my dream had saved our capital from a massive Shedun attack.
The changes went beyond mere weight loss and the lingering exhaustion three days later, but the only aspect I could attemptto fix was the uniform, which had been tailored for the Kailin from before the dream. I had been too enthusiastic with the needle and thread, though, taking it in too much, and now I feared that a deep breath might rip open the seams I'd spent hours sewing by hand.
Still, examining my reflection in the mirror, I had to admit that I liked the new slimmer version of me, just not the reason for the rapid weight loss, the implications on my overall health, and my future chances of surviving another prophetic dream of such magnitude. I also wasn't sure whether I liked the face that was staring back at me. My eyes seemed different, and not just because of the shadows under them. They appeared to be a darker shade of blue, older, wary, but it was probably just the lingering fatigue.
I turned to Shovia. "Do my eyes look different to you?"
She glanced up from the boots she was polishing. "In what way?"
"They seem darker."
"You're imagining it."
"Maybe." I tugged on my jacket again, trying to flatten the lapels, but they refused to behave because the fabric had no give left. "I feel like an overstuffed doll."
She shook her head. "Stop fussing with the uniform. It's fine. Work on your panicky expression instead. You look like you're about to face a firing squad instead of General Bardaky and several other top brass."
Shovia could always read me so easily, either because we'd been friends for years and she knew me so well, or because I was so transparent.
"Thanks for reminding me that it won't be just the general." I swallowed. "Your firing squad analogy is not far off."
She chuckled. "Bardaky is greeting you with a medal, not a gun."
"I'm not afraid of him shooting me in front of the entire Dragon Force. I'm afraid someone else might do that because the 'Hero of Elucia' is too dangerous to be allowed to live."
Honoring me in a public ceremony made no sense. If my abilities were supposed to be kept a secret, why parade me in front of the entire Citadel?
Anyone who didn't already know what I'd done would know soon enough.
Shovia's hands stilled on the boots. "Is that what's bothering you? I thought it was stage fright."
"It is mostly that, but being a target doesn't help." I pulled on the drakking lapels again, but they refused to lie flat no matter how much I fiddled with them.
"Maybe it was a one-off? You've never had prophetic dreams before. Are you still dreaming about seeing the world through the eyes of small animals?"
I nodded. "When I woke up this morning, it took me a moment before I realized that I had hands instead of paws."
I hadn't been drinking Saphir's tea since the night of the attack, so the dreams weren't as vivid as before, but evidently, I was still accessing the consciousness of nocturnal creatures, so perhaps the connections had never been fully severed.
Her expression sharpened. "How long did the confusion last?"
"Just a few seconds. But I'm afraid that next time it will be longer, or worse, that I won't be able to get back to my human self."
"Don't worry about it. I'll pull you out," she said with so much conviction that it almost made me laugh. "A slap on the face should do the trick."
I mock glared at her through the mirror. "You would dare strike the most decorated cadet in the history of the force?"
"Anytime, darling. You were my best friend long before you became the Hero of Elucia." She shook her head. "Who would have thought that my shy and reserved friend, the bookish Kailin Strom, would be awarded the highest medal of honor?"
I grimaced. "Not me, that's for sure."
