“Why you smell mad for?” Jondi asked. “We let our friends help.”
“Because it’s easier for me to carry it. We all should do the things we can for each other,” I said.
Jondi leaned his chin on my head and sighed. I was outnumbered. It wasn’t that anything was particularly heavy. Having Jondi ride on my shoulders just made it awkward. Only I couldn’t tell either of them that. Sure, Jade knew it, but I didn’t want to make Jondi feel like he was doing anything wrong. He wasn’t. I just wasn’t used to being the horse and the carriage.
Eventually we made it to our exit door and Jondi tried to wiggle off my shoulders. I went down when his heel caught my eyeball and I stumbled. He tumbled but Jade caught up, snatching him from mid air and kicking the suitcase over so that I didn’t land on the hard part of the handle.
“Is everything okay, Beryl?” one of the elves who guarded the door asked. I glanced up to see a red-headed elf named Gearine. He’d worked at this particular Other World door for as long as I could remember.
“He fell over before he wouldn’t let Dad help,” Jondi said, perched on Jade’s hip. “He offered, though.”
Gearine flashed me a knowing smile and said, “Feaiop was the same when I met him. Wanted to show off.”
“I wasn’t showing off. I was—” I started but stopped because Jondi was listening intently. “I’m used to traveling alone.” I finally settled on saying.
“You’re not alone anymore,” Jade said and then added over our mating link,“So, stop acting like you are.”
I climbed to my feet and righted the luggage. That’s why we were coming on this trip. We needed to find our rhythm because neither one of us wanted to spend the rest of our lives bickering.
Jade took the handle of my big draconic suitcase and pulled it through the door before I had a chance to protest.
“Don’t underestimate him, friend,” Gearine said.
Jade and Jondi were halfway up the stone path to the lake house before I got through the door. I sighed and sprinted to catch up. When I did, I almost asked if he was mad at me, but I wasn’t about to sound like some high school kid. Had I embarrassed him, though?
“No,” Jade said, picking up my thoughts over our mating link. “I’m just moving fast so you can’t take the suitcase back. Seriously,” he sighed, “if we’re going to be partners then we have to be partners.”
“Can I get down yet?” Jondi asked.
“Not until I look around first. You never know what’s hiding,” Jade said.
I almost offered to fly up and take a gander, but wasn’t sure if Jade would trust my judgement when it came to Jondi. So, to avoid bickering, I didn’t offer.
We dropped off our stuff at the house and Jade shifted into his winged lion. Jondi shifted down to his otter form and Jade put the little guy on his back, hidden between his wings. He stalked around the house, nosing around, and pawing at things. He jumped on top of the fridge and crawled under the cabinets too. Darting this way and that, Jade checked every inch of the house – even behind and under the furniture. Then he did thesame thing with the wrap around porch and the surrounding area outside. I could’ve told him the grounds crew knew what they were doing when I called and asked them to ensure the place was ready, but what did I know?
Eventually, Jondi was allowed to play at the shoreline where the water met the rocky dirt. Jade shifted back to his human form and frowned at me. I opened my mouth to ask what he found to dislike but he sighed.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s that I’ve lived with Jondi for a long time now. I know what he’ll get into and what he won’t. I know what he’s afraid of. I trust you but you don’t know all that stuff yet. That’s the sort of stuff that takes time, mate.”
“I wanted you to be able to relax on this trip,” I said, taking his hands in mine.
“And I will as much as any parent ever relaxes. I’m here, aren’t I? I’m making an effort.”
I pulled him close but didn’t get to hug him long because a second later Jondi’s voice rang out calling for him and he was off.
“Well, from an evolutionary standpoint he’s a helluva dad. That’s not a bad thing,”my dragon chimed off into my thoughts.“I mean our hatchlings will definitely reach adulthood with him around.”
A second later, Jade came back up with Jondi riding on his shoulder in otter form. I looked them both up and down, trying to discern what had gone wrong.
“Nothing,” Jade grinned. “It’s time for a snack. His question was if he could eat your fish. I told him no because we brought fish and stuff with us.”
“Oh,” I said as they walked by. Jondi waved a little otter paw for me to follow them.
Chapter 19
Jade
The Lake House at an Undisclosed Location
