Trust
Edan was furious, and Saerun was paranoid.
Solveig hadn’t left a trace - and, somehow, their heat signature was long gone as well - and so he’d opted against hurrying off to a wild goose chase. Instead, he was pacing back and forth alongside the skydancer outside their home.
“What if they’re working against us?” she blurted, wringing a long strand of her mane between her fingers. “What if all this time they’ve just been going back and forth between your clan and mine, trading information?”
“I - Saerun, I don’t
know,” Edan replied, exasperated. “But that doesn’t make much sense. Wouldn’t someone have come by now?”
“But someone
did show up,” the skydancer replied, turning to give him a severe look.
“I don’t think Veldr counts,” Edan replied, shaking his head. “Why would he have told us he heard another dragon if this was all part of some bizarre plan?”
“I,
ugh,” Saerun brushed her mane back and let out a frustrated groan. “
I don’t know. But how many… how many other dragons could even be out here? You’ve been patrolling! I thought you weren’t seeing anyone.”
“I wasn’t,” Edan replied, baring his teeth in a grimace. “Or, I thought I wasn’t. Might’ve been misreading something this whole time.”
“What do you mean?”
“Head inside, Saerun. I’m going to try to track them down,” was all Edan said before taking to the sky, leaving the skydancer to shout after him in exasperation.
The sun was high, and Edan had become acutely aware of the fact he hadn’t eaten at all that day.
He was looking for any sign of disturbance in the ground below - something he usually avoided entirely: the occasional hydra made its home there, and to provoke one of those monsters alone was a death sentence.
But, it meant he hadn’t been checking for
other beings.
The mirror had been scanning so carefully for so long that his eyes were starting to swim, and making out any heat signatures amidst the bright sunlight was borderline impossible.
He pulled a piece of jerky from one of his satchels, only to cringe at how foul and chalky it had become. He began to acknowledge it was better to turn back in this state.
But then, he saw it.
A flicker. Something small that vanished from sight immediately after.
As he soared closer, he saw the entrance to a den down between the trees. It was… massive. Furthermore, it hadn’t always been there.
The mirror circled, peering into the entrance from afar. He saw a shape. A very familiar shape.
Solveig didn’t have the chance to slip away this time - they didn’t even have the chance to process the sound of wind whistling through their ears before Edan had them pinned to the ground.
“Time to talk, kid,” the mirror breathed, glaring down at the pearlcatcher. His words came out rapid fire: “What have you been doing? Why have you been hiding out? Do you have
any idea how much you’ve been worried your sister?
Do you even give a damn?”
A rumbling came from further into the deep, winding cave. Edan paused and hunkered down, a talon still planted on the pearlcatcher’s chest.
“What is this?”
“Hey, hey! Stop!
Stop!” Solveig shouted. Edan thought he was screaming at him at first, only to see the pearlcatcher wrench their head to shout down the tunnel. “STOP! It’s
family, Praz!”
The heavy, echoing footfalls ceased, replaced by a heavy scraping and cracking that grew louder and louder. An imperial skidded into view, her talons plunged deep into the earth and trailing long gashes behind them in her effort to stop before crashing into them both.
The burrow’s walls shuddered around them.
“What - who… are you?” Edan asked, stepping away from the prone pearlcatcher and gawking up at the massive dragon.
“What… do you mean? I am Prazien,” the imperial replied, offering a confused smile. “You must be Edan, yes? Solveig’s clan leader? I’m sorry for the alarm, I thought I heard an attack.”
“Am I supposed to know who you are?” Edan blinked, looking back down at the pearlcatcher - who now seemed rather sheepish.
“I uh, I was still trying to figure out how to explain it to him,” Solveig offered nervously.
The imp let out a gasp, then a huff, and glared daggers down at the pearlcatcher.
“Why don’t you try
now,” Edan suggested wryly. He was starting to put their relationship together already.
“Well, I…” Solveig stood, looked between Edan and Prazien, and simply backed toward a wall. “…A few months ago I was out trying to gather wood for you, and I heard something behind me. I hid and watched for a while and, well, I saw Praz wandering through. I realized that she would probably have an easier time moving logs than me and I asked for her help.”
“So… after all my warnings about approaching other dragons, you immediately approached the first dragon you ran into?” Edan growled. He briefly looked up toward Prazien, then added: “Do you realize how badly that could have went?”
“I
said I hid and watched for a while,” Solveig retorted. “I only talked to her because she seemed normal! And she was! Honestly, I’ve never seen much sign of anything you’ve been talking about - ”
“You personally healed a dragon we found
mauled!” Edan snapped, baring his teeth. “I said these things to protect you! It’s sheer dumb luck you’ve been unscathed so far - do you have
any idea how much you’ve worried us?”
“I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d act like this,” Solveig replied, frowning. “You’d’ve vilified Praz before you even met her and I wouldn’t have seen her again!”
“No I wouldn’t have, I would have asked to
meet her,” Edan hissed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “So I could have judged for
myself. For gods’ sake, Solveig.”
The pearlcatcher stared at him, face stern with doubt. But gradually, uncertainty took over and they began to avoid his gaze.
“Can we… can we talk about this later?” they finally asked, rubbing their shoulder. “This is… obviously upsetting to - ”
“I’m upset because you
lied about telling them about me!” Prazien snapped, stomping her foot and making the burrow quake once more.
The pearlcatcher cowered.
In spite of himself, Edan was a bit amused.
“It’s been… a pleasure,” he said to the imperial, bowing his head in a polite greeting. “But it seems like I should be going.”
“Take them with you for now!” Prazien replied, waving her talon dismissively. “I need some time to… think. Yes… glad… to know you as well, Edan. We will talk more later.”
“I’m sorry, Praz,” Solveig called out, sounding rather broken as Edan ushered him outside.
“I don’t caaare right now!” Prazien shouted back, vaguely singsong. “We’ll talk later. Bring food.
Good food.”
Edan’s emotions were hard to pin down as he walked back out into the sunlight with the pearlcatcher in tow. Solveig was safe, for one. And they weren’t conspiring against the group, either. There was a lot of relief to be found in that, even with how infuriated he was at how many secrets Sol had been keeping. Somewhere amidst it all, there was hurt that they didn’t trust him.
It was probably best to put all those feelings aside for the time being.
“Solveig,” he addressed, looking sternly down at the pearlcatcher as they walked side by side.
“Yes, Edan?” they replied hesitantly, briefly meeting his gaze before staring down at their feet as the pair continued on.
“We need to trust each other, if we’re going to be… alright,” he said slowly, having trouble finding the words. “You can’t lie anymore, do you understand?”
“Yes,” the pearlcatcher replied quietly.
“Nobody will trust you if you do.”
“I know.”
“And what can I do… to regain
your trust?” he asked, trying to keep his voice level.
“I…” Solveig hesitated, taken aback. They cast another uncertain look his way before staring down at their claws. “I… need you to tell me what… what made you so afraid.”
“Cautious,” the mirror corrected.
“What made you so cautious,” Solveig nodded. “What happened to… what happened to you?”
“You want to understand,” Edan stated, giving them a curious look. “You want to see?”
“Yes.”
“I can
show you.”
\ouo/
Meet Praz
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