Chapter 40: Seeing Eye to Eye
Quartz and Querida were lounging on piles of cushions around a low table, enjoying a breakfast together. It was a strange routine, considering it was more domestic than their strange destiny was, but it worked. It gave them a chance to go over their plans before getting a proper start to the day. The two had just finished eating and were letting their food digest. Querida had a hand on Tess's mane, stroking her gently.
"Still nothing from Thorburn?" Querida asked. Quartz hadn't told her much of his plan yet, but it was clear that the disappearance of such a promising apprentice was annoying the coatl. His tail was twitching, as if trying to find something to grasp, which it only did when he was nervous or irritated.
"It's all radio silence." Quartz shook his head, with a sigh. "Guess he was a coward after all. And I had such a great plan for him too."
"We just need to find a way to move on, work without him." Querida urged. "He can't be that important, can he?"
Quartz scoffed, rolling his eyes.
"Well tell me please! I can't do anything if you won't tell me anything!" Querida snapped. "I don't even know who we're trying to beat!"
"I need to wipe his book. If he hasn't returned by now, he's probably betrayed me." Quartz said, not moving from the subject. "And then we need to regroup."
"You mean
you need to regroup!" Querida pointed out. "How can we be partners if you won't let me help!"
"I told you, your loyalty needs to be absolute!" Quartz reminded her through gritted teeth.
"Well I told you, I need the same from you, and you clearly care more for Thorburn than you do about me!" Querida shouted, then suddenly felt embarrassed. They were quarreling like a couple, and that was not what they were. There was no way. "You know what? You got us into this mess, you need to find out what you're going to do with it, otherwise you are going to be out two apprentices and have that fool Kulshan as your only help!"
"Querida, please!" Quartz asked.
"I need some air. I'm going to the Anniversary Celebration. Keep out of my way, or I'm going back to the Copper Lotus!" Querida decided, and with a huff, she stood up and made her way to the portal room.
Querida blended in with the crowd celebrating the Anniversary of the beginning of the 4th Age. She pretended she was an outsider, doing her best to steer clear from the dragons who knew her by name. They were sure to have questions she did not know answers too.
Soon she had forgotten all her troubles and was enjoying the celebration. Many events were commemorating the events of the past year, particularly the awakening of the gods, while others were commemorating the legends leading up until the 4th age. Querida once again felt like she was at the Greenskeeper Gathering, before Quartz, and before everything else.
As the day was drawing to a close and Querida was debating spending the night at The Copper Lotus instead of Quartz's mansion. It was then that she overheard it.
"So are the hatchlings safe? Should I warn the clan about nesting when the elemental energy is this strong?" Fenn asked Zolean, and Querida hid herself from view.
"It doesn't appear to be detrimental, and from what I've heard, it's been manifesting in older dragons too. Some dragons have taken to concocting and selling potions to encourage this effects. Some are calling it the blessing of the gods." Zolean explained. "The hatchlings are just fine, it's just a slight change in eye colour."
"But what of the extreme cases? What I've heard happening in plague and shadow-" Fenn asked, concern flooding her voice.
"The dragons effected seem fine. If anything, they seem to have a stronger internal elemental magic. But I can monitor any new hatchlings, if that would make you and prospective parents feel better." Zolean vowed.
"Thank you." Fenn sighed with relief, and the voices began to grow more faint and distant.
Querida hid in her nook just a few moments longer, taking in what she had heard, and suddenly, an idea hit her. She had to get back to Quartz and share what she had heard. Whatever his plan was, they could easily replace Thorburn if they could get a dragon with these new elemental manifestations.
"Oh Querida, you are brilliant!" Quartz said, a smile on his face for the first time in the weeks following Thorburn's disappearance. "Get enough of them on our side and our security will be absolute!"
Querida too was grinning ear to ear. Now it felt like they were getting somewhere. She had taken a step towards earning her place.
"Of course, our heir must have this elemental manifestation!" Quartz hummed gleefully clasping his hands together, the jewelry draped across them clinking together. "I will accept nothing else!"
"Of cour- wait, did you say
our heir?" Querida asked.
"Why yes! Thorburn has failed us. Kulshan, though useful, is a gullible fool that we cannot trust to the absolute as of yet. We could of course, try to recruit more of these special dragons and we will of course give it a shot, but the only way we can unsure our heir is who we want it to be is to have hatchlings ourselves, and hope they gain this special mutation!"
Querida's eyes widened. "You can't mean-"
"Look, I know we are not mates and I am not saying we should be, definitely not, I am just saying that we just have a nest, just this once, and raise the child we want as an heir. That way, my wealth won't all go to some random dragon should I pass on." Quartz continued.
"If we are going to do this, you have to give me something in return for such a favour." Querida said. "Because the joy of raising hatchlings just don't cut it."
"What would you want?"
"I want more information on what's going on. I want you to tell me who we are building a resistance from and why. I want to know just what you want to use out hypothetical children for, and I want equal access to your wealth and power, because even if we aren't mates, this must elevate me to your equal partner." Querida said. "Otherwise the nest if off the table."
Quartz sighed. "I suppose you deserve that much. I'll explain everything. Well, maybe not everything, but enough to be my partner..."
Querida felt the eggs heavy in her. The plan was in motion. This wasn't what she had expected when she had gathered the information about the elementally strong hatchlings, but if that's what it took to earn Quartz's trust, it would have to do.
She knew the eggs would be laid soon, so she had spent today as far away from Quartz as she could. She told him it was simply motherly wildclaw instincts, wanting to nest in a safe location and brood as the strongest of the pair, and while that was true, she wouldn't be nesting as she would have liked to in a perfect world.
As the moon rose over the horizon and spilled into her room, the time came for the eggs to be laid, and soon three pale green eggs gleamed in the cascading moonlight. Carefully, she took two of them and wrapped them each in a blanket, stowing them each in a woven basket. She could not let all three of her children get wrapped up in this. Unfortunately, she could not protect them all, so the remaining hatchling would have to be very brave and very clever.
Querida turned to her manticore friend, who was eyeing the eggs with a look of fierce protection.
"It's time. I must show Quartz our egg and share the tragic news of our small clutch." Querida said, picking up the remaining egg and holding it close. Tess nodded and picked up the baskets. Once Querida left, she prowled carefully behind a curtain hiding a tunnel out of the mansion. The journey would be longer without the portal, but Quartz could not be alerted of her leaving the premises, not with the precious cargo she carried.
Oriel was awaiting a late delivery at the message office. It was nearing the end of her first week on the job. After Plagueheart and Pennar came along, Oriel had dropped her messenger job to raise them, and since then the clan had grown far too big for one single dragon to run messages around.
When Arlen from Rara Avis, a clan in the Crystalspine reaches, had approached Fenn with a request to set up a wind branch of their messenger system. With Oriel's experience in the field, the Queen had approached her, suggesting that she open a courier system alongside it, as the clan currently relied on passing airships to deliver their mail.
With Amberlyn's encouragement, Oriel had taken the job and was now enjoying being back to work. It distracted her from her remaining grief over Pennar and Orkeck, as well as her worry for Plagueheart, while also allowing her to stay close to her remaining family.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. It must be the late delivery she had been expecting! With a smile, she cracked open the door and too her surprise, it was a woven basket covered in blankets. Pulling it inside, it was heavier than she expected it to be. After setting it down on a counter, Oriel pulled off the blanket to reveal a single wind egg.
Oriel gasped and dropped the corner of the blanket. Who had left it there? There was no note! Worried for the safety of the egg, Oriel covered the blanket up again. With a stiffened resolve, she vowed she would give the hatchling inside the home it deserved.
The Copper Lotus was closed, and India was waiting for Juliette to come back. The young wildclaw had been avoiding her for the past little while, and India was angry. She had even missed a few shifts, leaving the tavern short staffed and with Querida's disappearance, India was left to do everything on her own.
It was then she heard a knock at the door. India set down the glass she had been pretending to dry to calm her nerves. She desperately hoped it was Juliette, but she knew it was more likely that it was a late traveler looking for a place to spend the night.
India unlocked the door and pushed it open, and on her doorstep lay a basket, something round bulging under a blanket. India called to see if whoever had left it was still around, but there was no response. She brought the basket inside and unwrapped what she had already guessed was in it: an abandoned egg.
"Well, Windkeep Tower is known as a refuge for those who need a home. I suppose it was only a matter of time before something like this happened." India muttered to herself, cradling the egg in her arms. In light of the new arrival, India's anger at Juliette faded. Whatever Juliette chose to do with her time, she was still family, and now there was another needing a family, and she refused to let the hatchling come into a severed family.
As the door to the Copper Lotus clicked shut, Tess yawned and got to her feet, giving them a stretch. Her duty was done. Querida's family would raise her children, separately so as to not arouse suspicion from Quartz. The hatchlings would be well looked after, and Tess would make sure of that.
So, I originally wanted to write the nest on the day it came into existence (Tuesday), but Querida and Quartz were having none of it and instead performed a binding of the hearts. The timing just wasn't right, and I couldn't make their nest make sense. With the addition of the eyes, it all began to fall together and now here is the result!
Also, just so you know, I am totally ignoring that line in the canon lore update today about the eyes not being a signal of stronger elemental magic. The lore possibilities are too great to ignore!
Also, Arlen and Rara Avis belong to @
rainphee who's clan is my clan's newest ally! It was rainphee who suggested the wind branch of the messaging system be opened in my clan, and as that fit Oriel's need for a new purpose in life, it worked out well, so here it is!
