He’s going to help us, Cirrus thought happily to herself, He’s really, actually, going to help us.
It had been strange, how nice he had been to them, but also refreshing. Pleasantly so. She almost found it unreal. Had to ask Agile to verify that everything had happened. The coffee. The swim. The zoo. The aquarium. The movies. All of it.
“He’s warming up to us,” she had told Agile the next day as they ate breakfast, “He’s starting to like us. To believe us. I can’t believe it.”
Agile snapped up a piece of meat, horking it down. “Don’t get your hopes set too high,” he warned her, “People don’t just change in a day.”
She glared at him. “You’re the one who said it was him in the first place!” she snapped, and then leaned a chin on her hand, “Why? You having second doubts?”
He bristled at that. “Absolutely not. I’m just preparing you for some disappointment. Even if he is the one, he isn’t completely on our side yet.”
She rolled her eyes. “All right, Mr. Pessimist,” she grumbled, standing up, “We’ll see how it all plays out.”
Despite her outward positivity, after hearing Agile’s words, she too started to doubt. Not as much as she did before. But the doubt was still there. Persistent. She started to worry about handing him her books. Would he even read them? Touch them? Or would he leave them, abandoned in the forest?
Hopefully he at least opens a page, she told herself as she drew out a new plan. While Harper’s suggestion made sense, she still had been set on spending a month before presenting him to the court. So she would use the month as preparation, getting him up to speed on their culture, their customs. Those two books were only the tip of the iceberg. She had many more volumes for him to read.
Plus there was the matter of training. Making sure he was in fit condition. She had watched him swim, and could sense that he was strong, but not as strong as she would have liked. At least, that she could see.
“You’re wasting your time,” Agile said from above as she penciled out a routine for him. “He’s not going to follow it.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do, actually,” he started to preen a wing, “He’s not the type to follow through on that sort of thing. Your best bet is to just show him to the court as is. If they take him, they take him. If not, then we take him to the cave ourselves.”
“And do what?” she asked, putting down the pencil to look up at the dragon, “We don’t know what he’s supposed to do. The prophesy is vague. The Court will know how to train him best. They’ll prepare him better than you and I can. Even you have to admit that.”
“Do you think the Court will be as flexible as us when it comes to Harper’s schedule?” Agile asked, “Do you think Harper will be willing to work with them when he wouldn’t compromise with us? How much training do you actually think he’ll be able to complete before it’s too late?”
She couldn’t ignore the sensibility in those questions. He was right. Getting him to the Court was looking like the easy part, compared to what came after. As much as she was growing to like him, she still wasn’t entirely confident that he would actually be able to pull off whatever Herculean task that was asked of him.
“We’ll figure it out,” she finally huffed, resuming her work on the schedule, “For now, let’s just get him ready for the royals. Did you send the letter out to Argen?” She didn’t pronounce the g fully, a leaning ‘y’ sound followed by the softest of hard ‘g’s replacing the letter, the first syllable rolling into the second like a wave.
YOU ARE READING
Harper (NaNoWriMo 2014)
FantasíaHarper's a man of few accomplishments and even fewer aspirations. He is perfectly content with his bicycle delivery boy job, his closet of an apartment, and his daily swim in the questionable town harbor. Being special was never something he had eve...
