Aurekdel

I fell immediately to sleep after a very late night of feasting, drinking and conversation. And it took a lot to put me to sleep immediately. I’m not sure I even kissed Himika good night.

I had always been a late sleeper, to the rest of the court’s chagrin. When I was king, the day didn’t start without me. I tried to be a good and fair ruler, but waking up early was the one thing where I chose the most selfish path. Sleeping in never hurt anyone.

Well, Seron would have argued that point from a military perspective, but…

In this place, the warmth of the sun hit my face. It even made the bedroom smell different. Fresher and brighter. It seemed to fall in patches on the bed. There was nothing like this at home. I had read about the sun in books but I couldn’t believe it was this powerful.

“You’re awake!” Himika called across the room. “Breakfast is here.” She waved it under my nose. “Coconut rice with mangos! Rin got this just for me. It’s sooo good. Kamiri breakfast. Oh gods, it’s good. I’m so sorry Oszin isn’t here. If you don’t eat it, I will.”

“Now I see your true appetite.”

“Mmhm,” she said, mouth full. “I must get plenty of exercise today! I’m going to absolutely stuff myself while I’m here.”

“Where’s Ezeru?”

“Oh, he’s sitting on the balcony staring out at the menagerie. There’s a giraffe eating leaves under the window. He’s been staring at it for five minutes. They are funny looking. They have a long neck and spots.”

“Huh…maybe I’ll take my rice out to the balcony.”

She followed me out.

“This thing is so strange,” Ezeru said. His voice was low to the ground. He was crouching between the stone railings.

The giraffe smelled rather bad. Or maybe that was the menagerie in general. I heard something large rustling through grasses below us, and the trees shaking as it seemed to be eating them. Animals in the sky world were often very large, I’d noticed. Horses were larger than attu and Himika said cows were even bigger. If large animals had ever existed in my world, I’m sure we killed them a long time ago. Dragons were too large, too confined, to tolerate anything like this strangely tall, slow-moving beast.

But I was more interested in what was above me.

Nothing.

Nothing but sky that reached infinitely beyond us, the sun warm on my face. I was used to sensing walls around me. I was used to always hearing a faint little echo that said, This is the end of the world, close enough to touch.

Now there was no end at all.

I heard Himika’s hands fall on the stone balcony as she watched the giraffe. “I want to take you flying,” I said.

“Flying? Like, you want me to ride on your back?”

“Wouldn’t you like to see your homeland from up there?”

“What if I fall off?”

“You won’t. I want to fly here. It’s the perfect place.”

“I’ve never seen you fly,” she said. “You remember how?”

“You never forget something like that. Do you think I’d let anything happen to you?”

“I could shape a harness out of rock,” Ezeru said. The stone made a grinding sound as he started shifting some of the stone balcony.

“Wait, stop, stop, you can’t just start taking stone from the balcony. This balcony was probably built by some blah blah architect and it would make everyone mad. It’s okay.” She faced me. “I’m not afraid. I would love to fly. As long as you promise you know what you’re doing. Like…you know how to land?”

“I’ll hear the ground when we get close. Just find a level spot. You can tell me where to go.”

“Do you want some of the tea so you can sense where you’re going?”

“No,” I said. “We’re saving that.”

If I turned into a dragon inside the bedroom, I wouldn’t fit through the balcony door, so I slipped my robe off my arms but left it covering me like a cape, and turned to the wall to quickly remove my other clothes. Then I transformed, my body shifting and expanding—neck, wings, tail, jaws. My skin hardened with scales, and I dropped to four feet. Some dragons were most comfortable in this form and every moment they spent in their human skin was a nuisance. I preferred my human body. I knew it so well. But there was something to be said for the fluid strength that came so easily to me as a dragon.

“You’re a beautiful dragon,” Himika said. “Although I’m afraid your wing is about to shave off one of the roof ornamentations, and between that and what Ezeru just did to the balcony, we’ll never be invited back.”

“I put it back together,” Ezeru said.

“Mm…you sort of did.”

“I’ll work on it,” Ezeru said. “Go enjoy flying. Just don’t kill her. I’m not a flying dragon. I can’t save you from trouble.”

“Keep my robe and shoes with you,” I said, bundling them up and handing them to her. She seemed very small now.

I bent my arms so my chest rested on the ground and Himika climbed up on my back easily. “Oszin and Seron wouldn’t have let me go this easily,” she said.

“Seron would have taken you flying instead,” I said.

“Where do you take off?” She sounded nervous.

“The roof will probably do.”

“Probably?”

It felt like she was seated securely on my back between my wings, perched between ridges of scales. “It’ll be smooth,” I said. “Hmph. No one trusts the blind flying dragon.”

“Well, there might be a reason for that.”

“Just hang on.” I moved carefully, testing my weight on the balcony. It was very thick and the stone was solid. From there, I could reach up to the roof line, which had thick shingles of slate. The magnificent open sky was so close I could taste it. I dug my claws in and moved to the roof as gently as I could manage, and then I let out a few sharp barks that echoed off the buildings and courtyard. It was obvious that the buildings were all below a certain level, just like our castles back home, and once I lifted off, there would be nothing in my way except perhaps a few birds.

I spread my wings. Himika made a nervous noise, but she didn’t tell me to stop.

I sprung off the roof, wings sweeping, gaining lift as she shrieked. “Oh gods, oh gods—how did you—” The ridge of my back was so thick that although she must be clutching me, all I could feel were her feet digging into my sides. “That was so…easy!”

“I told you, I do know how to fly.” I laughed, a little relieved nevertheless. “But I’ve always wondered why any dragon has wings when there is no place to go. Now I know.”

“People are pointing at us! This must be a sight! Oh my goodness—the ocean is so beautiful. And—mountains. Aurek! I love this! We’re heading out toward the sea now. A little higher, oh, higher, there’s gulls.”

I heard the twinge in Himika’s voice that meant she wished I could see it. Well, I did too, but only a little. I’d never been happier. I had some dread of coming to this new place, but I had changed more than I realized since Himika had come to me and even finding out the truth about my parents.

I soared over the sea, wings spread. I smelled the salt and felt the ocean air on my skin. The gulls cried beneath me.

I loved being the king, but to be the king was to be trapped by duty. We were all trapped in a world of caverns and tunnels.

“My gem…I love your world,” I said. “I didn’t expect to love it, but I do.”

“That sounds like the way I feel about you,” she said. “And your world.”

“You must miss this terribly,” I said. “Now I truly understand.”

She was quiet for a moment, and then she put her arms around my neck. “I miss Irandal. I miss my crystal garden in Hemara,” she said. “I miss our home. This is beautiful and bright but this is the place I was a captive. Your world is where I’m a queen. Your world is where we belong.”

On wings, I could take her across Capamere in no time. She saw everything of the world where she had once been held prisoner, and she told me how beautiful it was. I landed in the field outside of the palace. It was so level, I didn’t even need her help. I glided down on the warm air, soft grass brushing my toes just before I set down. I shifted back into a man so I could pull her into my arms. She dropped the bundle of clothes, running her hands down my bare chest. I kissed her, burying my hands in her hair.

The small stumbles didn’t matter. I knew who I was. I knew my own power. I wasn’t as strong as Seron, and I never would be, but I never felt that Himika expected or needed me to be another Seron. We didn’t need another Seron. We had…the real thing.

I drew back a little, holding her close. “I want some fighting practice later.”

“Fighting?”

“Yes.” I swallowed. “I need to be ready.”

“Ready for…”

“When we see him again,” I said. “If he’s—corrupted.”

“You’re not going to fight him,” she said. “If he’s corrupted. But he won’t be. It’s Seron. Once he sees us—”

“Just in case,” I said. “The irony of it is, a skilled crystal dragon could heal minds. I bet Seron could heal me if I was corrupted. But that’s never been my talent. Seron always had the pure heart of a healer. I’ll have to fight.”

“You’d lose,” she whispered. “Seron might have the pure heart of a healer, but he’s also a born warrior. We’d all lose to Seron, except…Ezeru. The way his magic works, as long as they fight somewhere with plenty of rock, Ezeru might be able to—”

“I don’t want Ezeru to fight him,” I said. “If it comes down to that. I know a little about danna mist. The only way to bring him back will be for me to fight him.”

“Because he’d recognize you? Even with his memories gone? But what if he doesn’t? What if he kills you?”

The moment I lost him, I realized what I would need to do, and it was a terrifying thought. There was no guarantee Seron would remember me. Seron was strong, but dahna mist was quite likely stronger, and Izeria wouldn’t stop there. She would corrupt him any way she could. The next time I saw Seron, he wouldn’t seem like Seron anymore.

I didn’t know how to train for that.