“Just as it’s tradition for the royal princes and princess to fly kites during the Summer Festival?” Seryu said wryly. “You humans have many traditions.”
“You’ll also miss my birthday,” I said, suddenly glum. “It’ll be my last one in the palace before I’m shipped off to marry Lord Bushian’s son.”
That caught the dragon by surprise. “You’re going to be married?”
“Yes,” I mumbled. I’d buried all the dread I felt about my betrothal for weeks, but now that Seryu was leaving, the reality of my fate stung.
“When?”
“I’ll be sent to Castle Bushian before the end of spring. The wedding will be next summer.”
The tension in Seryu’s shoulders released. “Oh, that’s plenty of time. Cheer up, I’ll be back in the spring. In the meantime, work on your magic.”
My fingers went instinctively to my pocket for the pieces of Kiki I still kept with me. “Show me how to bring Kiki back.”
“You don’t need any instruction. Just remember what I taught you.”
Nervously, I placed the scraps of paper on my lap, four in total. All my enchantments since Kiki had been short-lived. The flowers I made bloom wilted once my concentration flagged, and the stick horses I made gallop collapsed as soon as I turned away. What if I resurrected Kiki, only to lose her again?
Kiki is different,I told myself as I carefully began to piece her together.She’s a part of me.
After a minute, there she was. A little fragile, but mostly the same as before—with a beak that hooked slightly downward, two inky eyes that I’d dotted with careful strokes of my brush, and wings that creased in the center, so they curved like orchid petals.
Except the red ink of her crown had smudged and faded.
I scratched open a scab on one of my fingers, freeing a bead of blood that I pressed to the paper bird’s head. As it darkened into crimson, I held my bird on my palm. I filled my thoughts with hope that she’d come alive again, and whispered, “Awaken.”
A fine, silvery-gold thread of magic rushed past my lips and twisted across the bird’s wings before settling there, as if stitched onto the paper. Then her wings flapped once. Twice. And she lifted, circling my face.
“Kiki!”
Kiki landed on my hand, her wings stroking my fingers.That was quite possibly the worst nap I’ve ever had,she grumbled, shaking her beak at me.I dreamt I was ripped to pieces. I’m never sleeping again. Ever.
“I can hear you,” I marveled.
Yes, of course you can hear me! I’m your dearest friend, aren’t I?
“Your desire to bring her back must have bonded you,” mused Seryu. “Now you can hear each other’s thoughts…though you might find the company of a dragon preferable to that of a paper bird.”
Will she, now?Kiki twittered soundlessly.I was her friend before she met you.
I laughed, loving my bird’s cheekiness. “Yes, but can you teach me magic while Seryu is away?”
“Unlikely.” Seryu lounged back in the grass. “You could always ask your stepmother for help, though.”
My laugh died on my lips. “My stepmother?”
Seryu shrugged. “Don’t you know? She’s a powerful sorceress. Magic emanates off her. Even when I was at your Summer Festival, I noticed it.”
Raikama, a sorceress? Impossible!
“You must be mistaken.”
“I would never mistake such a thing.”
“I thought magic was a rare gift. How could Raikama have it too?”
“I said it’s rare, not thatyou’rethe only one with it. And it’s really not strange at all. Magic attracts magic. Whatisstrange is that my grandfather let her cross the Taijin Sea. He guards Kiata’s waters from foreign magic.”
