The Awakening (16 page)

Jahrra glanced at the book she was holding out to him.
The Genealogy of the House of Dhonoara
it read.

“Dhonoara!” she cried before thinking.

Dathian snatched the book away a little more aggressively than was polite. Jahrra blinked in surprise.

His face had paled and he mumbled in his scholarly voice, “Yes, ‘tis a valley in the east. I have some interest in it.”

“Because that is where you are from,” Jahrra braved, holding out a quill he had missed.

She formed it more as a statement than a question. The look of surprise in his pale eyes told Jahrra she had guessed right.

“What makes you think I’m from Dhonoara?”

Jahrra shrugged. “I know a few elves who come from that valley and you have the look of them. One is a bit taller, but they both have the same hair color and complexion as you.”

Dathian furrowed his brow and gave Jahrra a serious look but before he could say anything more, Torrell’s perturbed voice broke the quietness of the glen.

“You will not believe what I saw on my way here!” she proclaimed, sounding quite exasperated indeed.

She stopped short when she spotted Jahrra, Senton and Dathian, all posed for what appeared to be a silent standoff.

“What did you see?” Senton asked, removing himself from the awkward conversation that had passed before his other friend’s arrival.

Torrell went into a tirade about some girls she knew and their seemingly inappropriate behavior regarding a young man from one of her other classes. Senton, bless his soul, listened as if his life depended on it. He was good about listening to Torrell’s and Jahrra’s feminine complaints, though Jahrra had to admit she didn’t think she had as many as Torrell.

Casting a wary glance at Dathian, Jahrra rejoined her friends. The elf would not make eye contact, instead feigning the need to clean his glasses once again. Jahrra wondered why he had blanched when she noticed the book on Dhonoara but soon Torrell’s heated words burned out all other thoughts from her mind. She would have to wonder about Dathian later.

Soon their professor arrived and they all gathered inside the building, where the centaur proceeded to tell them of what he had planned for the afternoon. As Jahrra had suspected, they’d dressed for a hike. Anthar wanted to take them into the hills in search of heartsong sparrows.

“Their young should be hatching out right about now and the song the adult male sings . . .” He paused, his kind face showing pure bliss. “Nothing else in all of Ethoes matches it.”

As they started their climb a half hour later, Jahrra noticed that she and Torrell were able to keep up with the centaur the best, what with all of their training in recent weeks, and Senton was just behind them. Dathian, Jahrra noticed, was at the back of the group. He walked as if it took him great effort to climb the hill but on closer inspection, it was clear he wasn’t struggling at all. Odd.

“There! A male, notice the gold streaks on his back?” Anthar breathed with excitement, his tail swishing to chase away flies. “And if you look very carefully you’ll see a tiny blush of red on his breast, hence the name heartsong sparrow. That and the heartbreaking beauty of their song. Everyone hush! He’s hopping up to the top of the tree; maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll sing for us.”

And then the bird started to warble and chirp in the most beautiful birdsong Jahrra had ever heard. They studied the birds for about half an hour, jotting down what Anthar said about them and sketching the female as she tended her young. Jahrra glanced up a few times from her work only to catch Dathian looking at her every now and again. He would glance away just as quickly, but not soon enough for Jahrra to miss the worry and annoyance in his gaze. Was he somehow angry that she’d discovered where he was from? And if so, why? She shook her head and focused on her drawing. If he was angry at her that was his problem, not hers. He didn’t even know her for goodness sake.

Before Jahrra was ready for class to be over, Anthar was calling for them to gather together and head back down the forested hillside. The students grumbled of sore muscles along the way but they all seemed glad to have seen and heard the heartsong sparrows. Once back at the cabin Jahrra explained to her friends that she couldn’t practice that day; Jaax wanted her to meet someone at the library.

“We’ll go with you,” Torrell said in her usual way, not waiting to see if Jahrra wanted company.

Senton shrugged and followed after their friend. Jahrra sighed, hiked her pack up onto her shoulder, and began to follow them. She peered back at the cabin and noticed Dathian talking seriously to Anthar. The elf caught Jahrra looking at them and he ceased talking immediately. Anthar glanced over his shoulder, his face looking more staid than usual.

Feeling ridiculously exposed, Jahrra turned quickly around and gritted her teeth. Why on Ethoes had she helped that elf pick up his books in the first place? She had thought all mysteries had been left behind in Oescienne but it appeared that no matter where she went, secrets would always follow.

-
Chapter Ten
-

A Familiar Dragon and a Formal Introduction

Jahrra and her friends were waiting in the library for a full hour before Jaax finally showed. She hadn’t seen him come in since she’d been facing the back of the building, but she knew his voice anywhere and immediately picked it out from all the others that mingled in polite and cheerful conversation. She couldn’t hear what he was saying at first but his tone wasn’t laced with the usual steel and fire it often held when he spoke in public. It sounded softened somehow, as if someone had removed a great thorn in his side or a loose scale that had been giving him trouble.

Jahrra turned away from Senton and Torrell and some of her other classmates and froze. A shiver of recognition along with slight embarrassment and resentment coursed through her. Jaax approached but he wasn’t the only dragon breaking the rays of dusty light pouring through the upper windows of the library’s massive hall. At his side, sauntering in like a well-fed lioness was another Tanaan dragon.

Jahrra knew her immediately even though the light in the library was much better than it had been the first time she’d seen her, outside the Castle Guard Ruin the night after the Great Race of Oescienne. So this was who Jaax wanted her to meet. Too bad she couldn’t tell him they had already met, in a sense. But she had a feeling her guardian would not appreciate that she’d been eavesdropping on him.

The red Tanaan looked much more in her element here. She had the same predatory gracefulness that Jaax had but she made it appear more feminine. Her glance traveled slowly around the room, taking in every detail. Jahrra got a strange sense that she was testing her surroundings with all five of her senses and maybe even a few more.

The friendly students of just a few moments ago backed away nervously as they came to realize the two dragons were heading directly towards them. Even Senton seemed ready to bolt. Torrell, not surprisingly and to Jahrra’s great delight, arched an eyebrow and turned to face the dragons. Jahrra wondered if anything frightened Torrell.

Those classmates they had run into earlier were at least polite about their departure (a far cry from the reactions of the villagers in Oescienne), whispering apologies and promises to talk with her later. Moving away not because they feared the dragons, Jahrra suddenly realized, but because Jaax and his companion exuded something more than fear here. The people of Lidien respected dragons and for some reason their manners seemed to go beyond common courtesy whenever Jaax was present.

Jaax stopped talking directly to his companion as he drew closer but he still nodded or murmured a response if she questioned him. By the time they were within ten yards of Jahrra however, his attention went directly to her. He regained his hard continence, giving Jahrra a look that said
watch your tongue
and
your attitude
. A silent warning.

Jahrra sucked in a breath and managed to smooth her feathers before they bristled too much. She stood up straight and crossed her arms, returning his look with a similar one, but hers rang more to the tune of
push me and I might not try too hard to be the well-mannered little ward you expect.

“Jahrra,” Jaax’s strong voice finally broke the tension created by their silent face-off, “I would like you to meet an old friend of mine.”

He had paused just before choosing the word ‘friend’ to describe the red Tanaan dragon standing just beside him, and Jahrra detected a tiny hint of displeasure in the female dragon’s composure; something about the narrowing of her eyes.

“This is Shiroxx.”

No titles, no short list of attributes. Unlike the few other dignitaries and friends Jaax had paraded Jahrra in front of.

“Shiroxx, this is Jahrraneh Drisihn, but you may address her as Jahrra.”

Jahrra flinched when Jaax gave Shiroxx her elvin name. Clearly he trusted this dragon. A lot. The red Tanaan smiled liquidly but Jahrra knew that type of smile very well. It was the one Jaax often gave her and the one she had grown to know so well among her classmates back in Oescienne. It was a smile that said: ‘I shall be polite to you on the outside, but in my thoughts I will tear you down and expose every weakness you have and hide it away for safekeeping’.

Jahrra shivered but managed a polite smile herself.

“Little Jahrra, I have heard so much about you,” Shiroxx finally spoke, her voice cool and beautiful.

A gentler version of the whiny one she’d used that night in Oescienne when Jahrra had spied on the two great reptiles standing in front of her.

She laughed then, melodious but forced, and turned her angular head towards Jaax. “You did not tell me she was so,
ordinary
, Raejaax. I would have thought the goddess would have produced a more appealing creature since it was only one she was making. But you do speak so highly of her attributes.”

Jahrra didn’t even try to quail her bristling this time. She hissed in a breath and felt her face flush in anger.

Senton cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Um, we’ll see you tomorrow Jahrra. Come on, Torrell.”

She watched them leave, Senton dragging on Torrell’s sleeve. The dark haired girl looked like she wanted to find a sword and stab Shiroxx’s eyes out but she kept casting a cautious glance in Jaax’s direction, as if expecting him to attack should she act on that temptation. Although she regretted their departure, Jahrra figured it was probably for the best.

She shot Jaax an angry glare but he hardened his own gaze and shook his head once, ever so slightly.
Let her have her petty insults, Jahrra. It isn’t worth getting into a confrontation over
, the look in his eyes told her. But there was something fierce lingering beneath them, as if the silver was trying to burn through the green.

Jahrra didn’t care. She was through with taking insults, especially ones that were cast and then drawn back like the crack of a whip, only to be smoothed over with a shallow compliment. Time to let this dragon know she wasn’t a pushover and to show her guardian she had a voice and a mind of her own.

Jahrra loosened her tightly wound body, letting her crossed arms sag a little and her weight to rest on one leg. She looked at Jaax again and smiled as sweetly as she could in her current mood. His eyes turned to solid granite and he suddenly seemed to take up the entire hall.

Jahrra ignored him and drew a breath to speak. “Well that’s interesting,” she mused. “Jaax hasn’t said a
word
about you.”

Shiroxx’s mouth twitched, transforming her polite grin into a tight curve of sharp teeth. Jahrra smirked, quite pleased with herself.
Two can play at this game
, she thought at the female dragon.

Beneath all of her instinctual need to defend herself, Jahrra wondered what this particular Tanaan’s problem was. This was the first time she had ever met Jahrra but what puzzled her was that she had always seemed to dislike her. It was obvious when she’d overheard Jaax’s conversation with Shiroxx those many nights ago that the dragoness had an aversion to her. Jahrra understood Eydeth’s and Ellysian’s indignation back at home; they’d seen her as an abomination, someone not worthy to be in their presence. But why would the dragon Shiroxx dislike her so much?

If everything worked out, if she somehow managed to defeat the Crimson King and return order to the world of Ethoes, shouldn’t she be welcomed with open arms, not icy stares and bared teeth? They were on the same side in a war that could very well mean the destruction of their world and she wanted to treat Jahrra like some young schoolmate who was trying to steal her glory? Please! There were more important and more dangerous things to worry about than a popularity contest. Jahrra’s mouth twitched at the thought.
Me, at the center of a popularity contest with a dragon. How absurd!

Jahrra shook off her slight irritation and decided to look at her guardian then. He’d had a good minute or so to let her snappish remark to his friend sink in so his glower shouldn’t be so damaging. Yet he still glared at her, the silver in his eyes even brighter now. Jahrra merely arched an eyebrow and, unsmiling, lifted her chin.
What did you expect?
she projected mentally at him.
I’m not good at taking insults lying down, remember?

“Now, don’t we have a bold mouth on us,” Shiroxx finally said, her tone laced in ice. Gone was the fake friendliness and in its place was the predator within.

Jahrra didn’t even flinch. She’d had good practice staring down dragons, for nobody was more formidable than Jaax.

Jaax choked in the back of his throat and although Jahrra was
really
tempted to reply to Shiroxx (something along the lines of ‘Oh yes, and the goddess gave it to me for a reason, one being to defend myself against overbearing, snooty reptiles’), she opted to remain silent. She would only receive a tongue lashing from Jaax later and she really didn’t want the headache.

“I think we’ve had enough,
acquainting
, for one day,” Jaax broke in. “Perhaps we can meet again later this week. Jahrra has not yet been to the upper gardens overlooking the bay and that would be a good place for a walk, and,” he shot another piercing glare down at Jahrra, “
civilized
conversation.”

Jahrra wanted to gape in outrage at him but she caught herself just in time. She was no longer a child. It was time to do away with childish reactions. Nevertheless, she stared straight ahead, aiming all of her ire directly at him. Shiroxx was the one practicing ‘uncivilized conversation’, not her.

Shiroxx released a bored sigh. “That’s very well. I have another engagement I must be off to anyways. Would you be so kind as to escort me to the plaza my dear Raejaaxorix?”

Jahrra felt like throwing a chair at the red dragon but quickly reminded herself:
no more childish reactions.

Jaax complied and nodded, turning towards the great columns outlining the building’s entrance, then waited for Shiroxx to join his side.

Before moving to leave, Shiroxx turned her gaze towards Jahrra once again and plastered that sickly sweet smile on her face. “It was nice to meet you, Jahrra. I shall look forward to our walk. I hope our conversation will be more pleasant on our second meeting.”

The remark was polite enough but once again that chord of distaste reverberated ever so softly beneath the sincerity.

Jahrra nodded in return. “Until next time, Shiroxx.”

The female dragon turned to leave, smiling radiantly at a rather grumpy looking Jaax. Jahrra watched them the entire time as they headed towards the busy plaza outside the great library. What was it that made Shiroxx so cold towards her? Even though she couldn’t see their faces she noticed both reptiles’ every movement. Jaax seemed his normal, intense self, listening politely as the female beside him prattled on once again. Jahrra wondered what she was saying, for Jaax nodded and even laughed every now and again but didn’t seem otherwise engaged in the conversation.

They reached the columns and Jaax bid his companion a final farewell. She smiled again, her eyes fixed on him as he turned to walk back towards his ward. He had a look of slight annoyance on his face, annoyance aimed at the young human woman standing in the middle of the large library hall. But Jahrra wasn’t focused on Jaax. She was still looking at Shiroxx’s face. But she didn’t have to worry if the red Tanaan dragon noticed her scrutiny; her reptilian gaze was locked entirely on Jaax. She was at the entrance, the sunshine beckoning and a prior engagement to get to, but she was focused on Jaax.

Even from this distance Jahrra could just make out the expression on her face, the look in her brown eyes. Regret, sorrow, longing, desire. Jahrra gasped inwardly. Desire? Was Shiroxx in love with Jaax? She had expressed similar feelings that night outside the Castle Guard Ruin but Jahrra had been a little too naive then to understand the subtle undertones of such a private conversation. But now, now that she really thought about it and dug down to the emotional level, she could almost see it. It was an astonishing, and rather disturbing, thought. A dragon, in love with another dragon? What an odd concept.

Jahrra mentally kicked herself. She knew better than to think that way. She actually felt a little ashamed. After all, she had been raised by a dragon and she had been around them long enough to know that they had emotions just like she did, just like every being she had ever met. Why couldn’t they feel love as well?

Hroombra had loved her, loved her very much. But Shiroxx and, and
Jaax
? Mind boggling. Perhaps it was the clash of such a pure emotion with the negative emotions Shiroxx seemed to let rule her life that was throwing Jahrra off. That and her own mostly negative experience with her guardian. Although she had grown to trust him and rely on him, he wasn’t all that loveable.

And then another more shocking thought occurred to her. All of the derision, the cold eyes and forced smiles, the insults dipped in the honey of kind words at the end of a sentence. Jahrra knew what it was, how could she have missed it? Perhaps because it was such a ludicrous idea in the first place. Shiroxx’s behavior, her words, her anger towards Jahrra; all one emotion with many different facets, like a deep green emerald cut to reflect the most light. It had a name, a cruel, selfish and bitter name: jealousy.