"I am. Usually, I have a general awareness of the dragons, but I've never attempted to contact Nyxath before. Perhaps it would have been easier when I wasn't that depleted, but today the awareness was barely there, and my shamanic abilities felt dimmed. It's like someone has turned down the volume on everything."
"I don't think you should resume drinking Saphir's tea. You need more time to recover." He shook his head. "I don't know anything about your abilities, but it shouldn't take this long."
"There's always a price to pay." I smiled weakly. "The bigger the gain, the bigger the price."
"That sounds reasonable, but you need to ask Saphir if he experiences anything similar when he performs his shamanic feats. This level of depletion can't be sustainable."
"I will," I promised. "It's one of the reasons I want to see him. The other is that I want to tell the rest of our group about the portals and the prophecy. It's frustrating having to keep secrets from them."
"I know." He began pulling folded items from the wardrobe. "Watching what I say is a habit. Sometimes I forget what's real and what's the cover story, and it didn't start with the pilgrimage. That's how things are at court."
"That must be exhausting."
"It is," he admitted, stuffing his things into a large bag. "But at least with you, I can be myself."
"What about Codric?"
"Him too."
"Your brothers?"
Alar paused. "Not really. I'm the youngest, so there is always this need to impress them."
I was the younger sibling as well, so I knew what he meant, but it had never been as bad between Dylon and me. Perhaps it was different between brothers, more competitive.
We finished packing his belongings into two large travel bags, and Alar took one last look around the room to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything.
"You can always come back for whatever was left behind," I reminded him as I reached for one of the bags.
"I'll carry both." He looked offended by my mere suggestion of carrying one of them.
As we opened the door, we saw Codric walking over with Shovia, carrying bags.
"The great migration," Codric said cheerfully. "Did you smell my socks?" He asked me.
I shook my head. "I'd forgotten about the socks, so that means there was no offensive smell."
Codric turned to Shovia with a triumphant expression on his face. "You see? You always exaggerate."
Alar cleared his throat. "We dropped our dirty laundry off this morning."
"Right." Codric rubbed the back of his neck. "Forgot about that."
Shovia rolled her eyes at him, then put her bags down and pulled me into a fierce hug. "I know we're being silly because we are still sharing a hallway, but I'm going to miss sharing a room with you."
I hugged her back just as tightly, surprised by the sudden swell of emotion. "Me too. It won't be the same without your commentary on everything and everyone."
"I'll still provide commentary," she promised. "I'll just have to walk down the hall to do it." She cast Alar a sidelong glance. "Get used to the idea of seeing me around a lot."
"You are welcome anytime." He turned to me. "Let's get this done. We still need to use the showers."
He was right. I smelled faintly of dragon, and even though the slightly sulfurous scent didn't bother me, it wasn't pleasant either.
I felt a flutter of nervousness as we entered the room. Sharing it officially was different from sneaking between rooms at night. This was a public acknowledgment of our relationship, sanctioned by the Dragon Force command. Then again, they had already acknowledged our relationship when they'd sent us together on leave.
"We can push the beds together and leave them like that," I said. "Do you want to do that before or after the showers?"
"Before, but I should unpack first."
