Dragon's Legacy

Chapter 7: Fa(k)e Flowers

Azmond opened his eyes as the light of the morning sun struggled to peak through the fog. He missed it sometimes, but now he had plenty of friends! Azmond thinks that not seeing the sun is worth it for that. He didn't get much sleep, but that's okay. He still wasn't sure why everyone else needed so much sleep anyways. It's always been like that. Except maybe he didn't like sleep as much now, ever since the ship. He didn't like remembering the ship. Not just because he couldn't see the sun or stars, or the close quarters, or the stuffiness, or Wollow leaving, or all the other stuff. But the monster that tore through the people Azmond met, tearing and killing them like they were insects... Sometimes, Azmond was scared to close his eyes, least he opens them to find the great beast on the horizon staring back at him.

He felt comfortable here, with the big men and women with their big voices and big meals. When he and Rael moved from the cool nest house down to the hotter longhouse-turned-longboat, Azmond was a bit scared. He didn't want to be on another boat. But Rael wasn't scared. They were never scared. They helped him on the boat and ran with him as he tried to rock the boat by running from port to starboard and starboard to port. They helped him pick out a room where they would hang their hammocks together. He got the top hammock!

Azmond looked over his hammock to watch as Rael began to wake up. It was a lot better to watch Rael wake up after a long day instead of watching over them as they struggled to stay awake. Sometimes, Azmond would pretend to be asleep as Rael would come back from a long day working at the forge or from a late-night practice with Derrol. They would look over him, caressing Azmond's horns and face as he pretended to sleep. They'd hum contently and settle gently in the hammock below. Rael would whisper things before their breath would slow as they fall asleep. When they slumbered, Azmond would look over them, just to be sure. When he saw the bruises Rael came back with, he was worried. But when he pointed it out in the morning, Rael laughed and said that he'd be counting less of them in the future. They promised. And like every promise Rael made, it came to pass. Now, Rael had only a few bruises at a time as their body began to fill out once more. No longer was Rael the tall, skinny grump Azmond first saw at the back of the cargo hold, nor the emaciated and sick form they'd had by the time Derrol and his crew rescued them. Azmond wondered where they were last night; all the other adults were celebrating getting the longhouse into the water. When Rael came back, they walked as if in a daze. And instead of doing what as they usually did, Rael just patted his head, chuckled, and flopped into their hammock.

How strange!

So when Rael got out of their hammock to enter the longship's main room for breakfast, Azmond followed. Most of the others on the boat were already awake, sharpening weapons or helping make breakfast. Rael nodded to most people, and Azmond, despite already knowing all their names, mimicked Rael. When Rael grabbed a single piece of coontie sofkee with squash spread, Azmond did the same. They both sat down at the table, their wooden plates side by side. Rael raised an eyebrow and pointed at Azmond's meal.

"Don't you usually eat more?"

"Yea." Azmond stuffed the entire breakfast in his mouth.

"You should eat more than that. You're still growing." Rael chided.

"Pot, meet kettle." Smith Sherra said as she sat down next to Rael. In one arm, she nursed Hiram, and in the other she had a massive plate of food. Capricorn liver sausages, boar flank, sofkee with jam, simmered apple and nuts, bowls of grain meals, and a few glasses of honeyed milk. Gault sat by Azmond with a similar plate. "The next few days are going to be intense for everybody, so its best we eat up."

"Which means the both of you have to eat a lot." Gault began piling some of the food from his plate onto Azmond's. "Everybody will be expected to work, either through spell or body. Are you okay with helping some people move supplies to the boats, little Dragon?"