Book IV: Avi Dragon

Dragon of Leisure

You could measure her recovery by how restless she grew. As her dragonself said, she was not a dragon of leisure.
   "I just want to get out, stretch my legs, y'know?"
   "Yeah, I get that. You'll be running circles around the car in no time, don't worry."
   Her head cocked to the side. "Why would I run round the car..?"
   He laughed at a memory her soul remembered, but she did not. "Because I wouldn't drive fast enough with the baby in the backseat."
   She snorted. "Either you're telling me I can run faster than a car, or you're saying you drive slow."
   He flushed. "I didn't want to speed through the frickin' desert with a baby on board!"
   She stretched as best she could, trying to alleviate the restlessness. "I didn't think a car could drive on sand. Wait, why were we in the desert? I'm sorry, you're gonna have to catch me up on a lot here."
   He gently dislodged their daughter's fist from his beard. "It was the only place we could think of where you could stretch your legs, but still keep an eye on us."
   Her legs bicycled under the sheets a bit. "Makes sense, I s'pose."
   He chuckled. "You 's'pose'? When did you go Minnesotan on me?"
   "Hah! I've been Minnesotan longer than I've known of your existence. It just doesn't come out very often; probably because I've lived in a few different states in life, so it's just one of many accents warrin' aboot in m'head."
   "Was one of those states in England?"
   "Pfft. Naw, I'm just an anglophile, and part Irish to boot. Sometimes it just pops in for a syllable or two. And sometimes the South sneaks in, or the West coast." She shrugged and held it in a makeshift stretch. "I've been everywhere, man. Breathe the mountain... man air." Her eyes twinkled with mischief, even as a blush gently tinted her cheeks.
   Avi found he liked this side of her. The imp who played with words, even if they made her uncomfortable.
   "I miss the mountain air, man. Or fresh air, in general. Hey, d'you think we'll have time for a wee hike before we leave forever?" Her eyes pleaded with him, hands clasped at her breast. It did something to his heart, but he couldn't give her what she wanted.
   "If you were full strength, I'd say yes," he said, reluctant to break her heart. "Besides, I'm sure we'll come back at some point. We always have Minnesota in the tour schedule."
   Her face fell before he finished speaking. She was used to disappointment, had become adept at hearing it before it was said. "You'll go to the Cities, sure, but not here. And sure, there's hiking there somewhere, I've heard, but... it's not here." She almost said it wasn't home, but home had changed so many times over the years, the word ceased to mean anything anymore.
   His heart broke a little. She was right, they might never return to the home she'd known for... he didn't know how many years. They couldn't risk being attacked on the trail, with her at half strength. He'd become protective of her, ever since he laid eyes on her frail body, lying in a coma. Even knowing she could probably Shift, they couldn't know how fast, or how effectively. They would need every day in relative safety to get her back up to snuff. None of the kids were here to watch over them while they took a leisure stroll through the wilds of Minnesota, and she'd already said she wouldn't ask them for anything but an emergency.
   She sat, slumped, in her little island of tangled sheets, and there was little he could do to console her.
   "You haven't met the redwoods yet," he tried. "It's not what you're used to, but maybe that's a good thing? Maybe it's an adventure, just waiting for you to be strong enough for it."
   Her shoulders hunched a little, the dragon in her taking offense at the implication of weakness that the human in her knew to be there. He thought he saw a flash of angel blue in her eye, but it was hard to tell at this angle.
   Always one to try to find the silver lining, Angel murmured "I s'pose 'tis poetic to return to the land of my birth, eh?"
   He perked up, having given up on keeping Menolly out of his hair. "You were born in California? I didn't know that. I guess, aside from what you've told me, I don't know a whole lot about your life, before..."
   Her wings rustled beneath her skin, in a mimicry of the shrug he knew so well. Her spine rolled with it, the same as it used to. She was becoming more the Angel he knew, with every passing day. For some reason, that made him nervous.
   "I don't remember it, you know. Too young. Didn't seem important to mention, 'til now."
   It was sad, what a lack of fresh air did to her. She was getting stronger every day, but also wilting under the artificial lights.
   Piercing blue eyes, calm and detached, met his unexpectedly. "What d'ye expect from a dragon? Don't you do better out in the woods? Doesn't it recharge your bat'ries, as well? Must be a dragon thing." A faint puzzled expression ghosted across her face. "If so, was I a dragon before I was a dragon? Or is that merely a coincidence? Was it a requirement? I have so many questions..."
   She was an odd one, for sure. One moment she was sad, the next a wan fey. What would she be in the next moment? The warm, maternal Angel, or the conflicted mass of emotion? He never knew what to expect. He couldn't decide whether it was exciting or terrifying.
   She would be the laughing, unconsciously sexy minx, it seemed. "You're thinkin' of a dragon again, and tryin' to put 'er in a human box. It won't work, ye know." Her eyes twinkled a mischievous green.
   Light as a feather, she hopped from the bed and nabbed her IV pole. "Unplug me, will ye? I'm for a walk."
   "Won't that alert the nurse if you're unplugged?"
   "Ach, they'll see me walkin' the halls and know what's up."
   Full of reservations, he reached for the plug, juggling their daughter, when OT came in.
   "Well, looks like I got here just in time."
   Instead of the groans she usually met them with, she merely sat back on the side of the bed, legs crossed. "It's not a walk, but it'll do."
   "Getting restless, are we?"
   "Yessir, I most certainly am! I'd love a bit of fresh air, but this'll do, I s'pose."
   "Nice to have someone who's happy to see me. Let's see how long that lasts," the man challenged.
   "Yes, let's." Her eyes, still green, sparked an answering challenge. Just see if you can break me today!