Dragon

Chapter 12

Jaimin hobbled into the warm kitchen, a grunt escaping from behind his clenched teeth with each step. His diminished senses picked up the scent of cooking meat and, despite his dislike of human meals, his stomach gave a treacherous grumble. The goat he'd eaten at high-sun had been small.

He longed to gorge himself on a good, fat buck. This was the time of year when they strayed close to the Hall. He wouldn't be capable of hunting until full sunrise, though he'd heal faster if he returned to true self. Not yet. Past experience told him a wounded leg would be easier to manage in human form.

The room was stuffed with pops, hisses and the odd metallic clank. Standing with her back to him, Mara fussed about the pots hanging over the fire. She barely paused in her stirring to coax the flames higher. A dim memory recalled the old bustle this room had once brought. Here one could always find the chatter of life and, though the room now looked overlarge for its purpose, the constant cramp of too many people in too small a space. All gone now. Like so many other things.

Taking the last few steps, he leant against the heavy table, breathing laboured. His hunger aside, he yearned to curl up in his chamber and sleep while his body mended itself. He had tried after the youngling had left his chambers, but the need to speak with Mara made rest impossible. It had forced him to spend the last few hours searching the Hall before at last discovering the aging knight's whereabouts.

The woman turned, jumping as she spotted him. "Jaimin!" A suntanned hand flattened against her chest. "I heard you were injured."

He forced a smile, his stomach clenching. He'd a sickening suspicion the wall between him and his knight had fallen for a short while. His tutors had warned it would be difficult to maintain an effective barrier under extremes. That Mara knew it had happened at all was only affirmation. "I broke a leg." Laiyn must have gone looking for him. How am I going to explain this to the council? After their dawn evasion, he had expected to return and find Karoc waiting at the Hall's entrance. Ready to hand the teaching of Maay over to Teero. A small mercy the ancient had not. "It's mostly healed."

She skirted the table, greying hair working free from its bun as she shook her head. "Child, you should be resting." Taking hold of his elbow, she escorted him to a stool. "Sit."

He obliged, settling with a grunt.

"What in the name of the Great Ones were you doing to break a hind leg?"

"Teaching Maay." He sighed. "To fly."

"Fly?" Her brown eyes widened. "Then she is a dragon!"

Jaimin winced. How he longed to sleep. "Yes." Would she tell Karoc? Did she know the full extent of the council's plans for the youngling? "I need to talk to you about her." Maay's innocence had shone through while they'd waited for his broken leg to be strong enough to briefly hold him. "You are the closest thing we have to a female dragon and ...." Face warming, his voice failed him. Of all things for the youngling to not know, why did have to be something he'd no experience in?

She gave an understanding smile, doubling the wrinkles round her eyes. "She helped me with Aaluna, I'm sure she knows."

I thought so too. Of all the things he'd been certain of, it had never occurred to him that she wouldn't know the mechanics of mating. Surely it should've been impossible for her to aid in human birthing and not be aware of how that babe had gotten in its mother's belly. "She doesn't." Dragons prepared their young for mating years before they were capable. Why did humans not do the same?

Mara frowned.

"You've seen a Flight." Like any ancient or elder when they'd been in their prime, Karoc would've Flown every summer, more than once in some years. "And you've had children." Granted they, and their children's children, were all likely to be long dead. "You can instruct her." Maay was insistent that, had she stayed at Byron's Peak and been married off like with the rest of the young noblewomen, her husband would've taught her. That idea didn't sit well with him. What if her husband had been a cruel man? How could she have known such behaviour was not normal?