Dragon Blossom

Don't let Eri know.

Runa always felt a bit anxious when Eri went out to the city alone, but in reality, she was never alone. Every soldier in the city had orders to keep an eye on her and report any anomalies. They even found out about a broken ball once; sometimes they took their duties too seriously. Nevertheless, the sweet grapes that finished her breakfast tasted bitter. At least she had made sure to enchant the sheath of her dagger so that it could only be drawn when in danger. That girl always wanted to carry it everywhere. In the end, she prayed to the goddess of peace for not being too indulgent, bid farewell to her daughter, and rose from the table; there were matters to attend to.

From early on, Frey had been in the war room with all the other generals. Artemia was the kingdom of peace, but it had the largest and best-equipped army in the world. Its generals were the elite, the best in their field, and she had married the best of them. He had a precise instinct for anticipating where attacks would occur, was the strongest dragon slayer with over twenty beasts slain, the youngest of them all, and above all, he had a heart of gold. He had never left a civilian population helpless if he could do something about it. He was also stubborn, careless, and his promises, if they involved Eri, were worth two coins of oxidized copper, "I won't teach her fencing again," "my gift will be safe," it was exasperating that he always got his way. At least the wedding had been as she wanted. And not the austere gathering with soldiers that he surely planned.

Life had been very good those days since the wedding; they had allowed themselves to behave as if there were no other concern in the world than whether Eri ate her vegetables. But it was time to turn their attention back to the war, and perhaps to a more serious matter. Before entering the war room herself, she made sure that her daughter was already on her way to the city.

"Princess Runaesthera," greeted Jimmer, one of her most reliable generals and a friend of her husband, whom she had known since the day she scolded him for not recognizing her. "We were expecting you, some details have already been agreed upon, but we need you for..."

"I know, Jimmer, the matter of the dragon princes."

She approached the central table, where a map of all the regions near Artemia was spread out. Freydelhart and his father were looking at it and moving small wooden figures shaped like dragon heads. As she entered, they made room for her and invited the high ranks to come closer; they were about to discuss vital information.
"Alright, Frey," her father said to her husband, "what exactly did your daughter tell you?"

"You know that Eri naturally understands and speaks the language of dragons, but because of her age, she still doesn't understand many things. It's best not to jump to too many conclusions," he took a deep breath, as when he wielded his sword, "the green dragon told Eri, 'Your brothers will come for you, but they will not find you, deformed traitor, for I will end your miserable life today.' She yelled at him to leave her alone, that she had no brothers, only her parents, and the dragon replied something like, 'none of the cowards hiding in those forms will ever be human, their fire will go out.' And finally, 'The dragon king is eternal, princes like you will never take his place.'"

"From that, we can deduce a few things," intervened Runa's father, "Eri will lose her powers unless she leaves her human form, which is why the dragon at Meyrin Castle didn't explode; it had been in human form for too long, and its flame had run out. Frey says it looked like an old man."

"The dragon king has other children, although we always thought all dragons were his children, and it seems there is a conflict among them. King Bestolf, have your mages and scholars discovered anything about the dragon's body?"

"Uh... yes, I received a letter from my chief mage yesterday afternoon. They say the body could not have taken another form, that the spell traps a dragon's soul in a false... reanimated body. The dragon's body and its fire remain outside of space, slowly consuming themselves to maintain the spell."

Runa understood —A reanimated body implies that they must steal it from a human— she looked at Queen Eyren, who was sitting on the sidelines, distracted...

"Indeed," continued the king, "my mages are incredible and were able to create a portrait of the dragon's human form, identical to the palace butler, but much older."
Everyone fell silent, the peace and goodwill of two nations were being decided in the minds of parents who loved or had loved their children.

The silence was broken by Queen Eyren. "Erifreya... it doesn't fit..."

"What do you mean, Your Majesty?" said Frey, very slowly. Runa had never seen him be so careful.

"Eri is not a dragon in a human body, Eri is different."

It was true, something didn't fit. Eri was identical to Princess Erina, but she had horns, wings, fangs, and most importantly, her fire was intact. As far as they knew, the dragon had transformed into the butler five years ago, at most, on the day of the castle attack. If he no longer had fire, Eri probably wouldn't either. Moreover, the mages had said that both the fire and the body disappeared, but Eri used hers at will.

"The mages tried to find out something about the shell in the throne room, but they only discovered something we all already knew, that dragon eggs only open surrounded by stone. Although they say that shell wasn't opened, but that it was broken prematurely and..." everyone held their breath until King Bestolf continued, "The bones next to the shell... were Erina's."

Frey had assumed they would be the bones of another dragon that had died in human form because Eri had said that "her mommy" was in that room. Runa imagined that the dragon taking care of her said the first thing that came to mind, not everyone has patience with small children, but each answer opened new questions... Why did they stay locked up there? Why, if five dragons attacked the castle, did only one stay behind? If Erina had died in the castle atrium crushed by the dragon king, what were her bones doing there?

"Relax, Alistor," King Bestolf looked his equal in the eyes despite the height difference, playing with his mustache as he spoke, not in an arrogant gesture as many do, but visibly nervous, "Your granddaughter is your granddaughter, and we signed a treaty to make it official. She does not belong to my kingdom, and even if I wanted to —he looked at her, making sure Runa heard him— which I don't, I could not harm her or demand punishment without breaking the peace between our nations. You are a cunning old man even though you look like a whippersnapper, Alistor, you played along because you expected this."

"I cannot say that was the case, Bestolf, I am not wise enough for that. And remember, when you came to me five years ago, I swore on my honor that your daughter's death would not go unpunished. But I do not believe Erifreya should bear the blame."

"Neither do I, Alistor, we are friends and so are our nations. In three days we will return to Meyrin, and I want that when I leave, your granddaughter knows that my castle is still her home. But it's better that word does not spread, the people of my kingdom loved their princess, and I am without heirs..."

"Our youngest son Bestenar," interrupted Queen Eyren, "is still alive, if only you..."

"Bestenar will reign over Meyrin when the Goddess of Peace wields a sword. And let's speak no more of it. The danger of a civil war is high enough without giving wings to that excuse of a son I have. I need the discretion of everyone present."

Frey assumed his role as the high general and took an oath from all the generals to keep silent on the matter, particularly the possibility that Eri might have harmed Princess Erina of Meyrin. The loyalty of those men was absolute; Runa trusted them because Frey did. Especially in Jimmer. He had accompanied his husband since they were very young and had never left him alone.

"Thank you, Prince Frey." —Freydelhart's face twisted into a grimace of surprise and disgust— "HA! Get used to it, kid, now you are a noble prince consort."

"Well, that's more or less settled," Runa's father stroked his fake beard in the same way King Bestolf stroked his mustache, was he imitating him? —"we need to decide how our strategy or stance changes with the information we now have."

"That's obvious, Your Majesty," said Frey, picking up one of the wooden figures from the map, "we have to capture and interrogate a dragon."