"All strapped in?" Ravel asked over his shoulder.
"Yes, sir."
He handed me a pair of goggles and then pulled his into place. "We'll fly at cruising altitude. The route takes us southwest over the central range and then south to Podana. About forty minutes' flight."
The last forty minutes I would spend in Elucia's sky.
On Ravel's signal, Onyx launched, and the roof dropped away beneath us with a force that pressed me into the saddle, but I still managed to turn my head over my shoulder and watch the squadron follow us in tight formation, the dragons flanking us forming a V pattern.
Ravel and I were about the same height, which meant that I couldn't see over his head, but I could see enough by looking to the side, and the view was spectacular as always. Except this time, I was about to see much more of Elucia than the academy's training airspace.
The mountains rose in jagged ranks, their peaks white with snow, and their valleys filled with blue-gray mist. The auroras painted their fading colors across the sky above, and between the peaks, I imagined the magnetic currents shimmering faintly, visible only to dragons' eyes and other creatures that navigated by them.
"Elucia is beautiful," Ravel's voice carried back to me over the wind.
"Yes, it is."
We flew in silence for a while, the only sounds the rhythmic beat of Onyx's wings and the rush of air past my ears. The squadron maintained their formation, their dragons adjusting for wind and thermal shifts.
I would have given anything to be flying Veynathei right now, to feel her presence in my mind and the shifting colors of her scales beneath my hands. Instead, I was a passenger on another rider's dragon, a cargo being delivered to the border.
"Can I ask you something?"
"You can ask. I may not answer."
"Fair enough." I needed to talk to someone about what Kailin had seen, and Ravel was my last chance. "Four times Kailin has dreamt of me dying. In two of the dreams, it occurred during Shedun attacks on the Citadel and in the other two, it was by falling off Veynathei's back. Obviously, I can only die once, so the dreams contradicted themselves. Then I was summoned home so neither of those dreams would come to pass. I don't know what to make of that."
Ravel was quiet for long enough that I thought he might not answer. "Kailin's dream about Podana saved thousands of lives. I was there. I saw the attack unfold exactly as she'd described it, so I believe her dreams carry weight, but your points are valid. You are leaving, so you are not going to die in either way. Then again, you might return, and then one of those could come to pass, or the dreams might be metaphorical."
I hadn't thought of that. "In what way?"
He shrugged. "Maybe the death scenarios indicate your departure from a life as a rider and back to your life as a prince of Catonia. Perhaps your part in the prophecy is diplomatic in nature, and you can only fulfill it from Catonia."
"So, you think that me leaving was the right thing to do?"
He chuckled. "You're making it sound as if it was your choice. It wasn't. If the diplomatic demand hadn't come, you'd still be here, flying with Veynathei, ignoring Kailin's warnings, and convincing yourself that the dreams were just nightmares. But perhaps the summons came at the right time to save you from dying."
The following stretch of silence was filled by the wind and the wingbeats and the vast beauty of the mountains below. We passed a lake, its surface reflecting the fading auroras like a dark mirror. Then a valley came into view, where a small settlement clung to the mountainside, smoke rising from chimneys, and tiny shapes of people moving around.
"Take care of her," I said.
Ravel's shoulders stiffened, almost imperceptible. "Kailin doesn't need anyone taking care of her."
"That's not what I meant."
The silence that followed was charged with things neither of us was willing to spell out.
I could have resented him for the feelings he was trying so hard to hide and failing. Part of me did. But a larger partrecognized that when I was gone, Kailin would need someone who cared about her well-being. She had Shovia, Codric, and Morek, but Ravel was a commander, and he could do more for her than those three combined.
"It's going to be difficult for her no matter what everyone around her does to cheer her up," Ravel said. "The best way to help her cope is to keep her so busy that she won't have time to think about you. Saphir has plans to intensify her shamanic training, and Morgateth will keep her strong through it."
"That's not what I meant either, but I'll take it."
He turned his head just enough that I caught the edge of his profile. "What exactly do you mean, Prince Alaranthus?"
"I mean that she's going to be lonely, Commander. She left her family and her dog and her grandmother's apothecary to become something she never wanted to be, and now she's losing me." I swallowed. "She'll throw herself into training and shaman duties and pretend she's fine because that's what Kailin does. But she won't be fine. Not for a while. I'm afraid for her."
"And you want me to watch out for that."
