Aristodemos

Our lovely hostess  RoseKnight brought us all to the Library at once: Scholar, Tristan, and I. Three males for one small, elegant tundra, all of us on our best behavior: each determined to be the perfect gentledrake.

Each determined to win.

Because it doesn't matter what RoseKnight told us about her lair. It doesn't even matter if she believes it, though surely she seems to. No lair has limitless capacity. No lair will keep three mates for a single dragoness.

RoseKnight took us to meet Bendystraw, a cheerful little black & yellow tundra who assigned each of us a room. "You want a pet?" she asked, leading us to an outdoor pen. "We've got -- "

There were two familiars in the pen: Hali and Skoll.  Tristan beckoned to Skoll, who bounded to him. "Aren't you dear?" Tristan cooed to the golden lupine, rubbing his belly.

I raced to claim Hali. Let Scholar be the drake without distinction; it would not be me. The dark lupine accepted my caress and followed me back to the gate. "Such lovely beasts," I told Bendystraw. "Thank you."

"You're welcome!" Bendystraw answered me, then added to Scholar, "Don't worry, sugar, there's more in the off-site pen ... we mostly just keep the ones that followed dragons home from the Coliseum here."  RoseKnight had a pained, apologetic look.

"Hmm?" Scholar looked up from where he'd been fussing with his purple globe. "Oh, no need, I'll take a coral basilisk for company."

"Er ... we don't have any -- " Bendystraw started to say.

"You don't?" Scholar blinked.  He produced a leash from his bag, and beckoned with the end. A few moments later, a great black-and-red bird was waddling towards us from the bushes outside the enclosure.  "Well, there. You do now."

"Oh, how marvelous!" RoseKnight exclaimed. "Is he yours, or is the leash enchanted?"

"It's the leash, m'lady. Just a little trinket I've been toying with."

RoseKnight knelt and offered a forefoot to the coral basilisk, which sniffed her talons with a wary expression. "Such a funny-looking beast! He's kind of adorable."

"Do you like him, m'lady?" he asked. "You may have him, if you like, though I'd planned a rather grander gesture.  Have you ever seen a conjoined skink?"

"Oh Lightweaver no! Are they real?" Her eyes went wide.

"Very much so, as I intend to prove just as soon as I get the last phosophorus I need." He smiled at her, congenially.

Tristan and I exchanged glances, and the other imperial shrugged, very slightly, and stroked his golden wolf. Round one was over and won, and we'd been outmaneuvered before it had begun.

*

The hatchlings were adorable, all fluff and golden eyes, with the new genes that would assure them a place in some lair, at least for a time. I'd expected to resent them for that, and for the attention they'd receive from their mother. From RoseKnight, whom I needed so desperately to impress. And part of me did resent that. Why should these children be born to a security I had little hope of ever holding, no matter how much I fought for it? I'd expected to struggle to conceal my resentment, and I did.

I'd expected to feign interest in them, to fake an affection that I hoped would endear me to their mother.

But I didn't have to pretend.

Oh, perhaps at first, when they were new-hatched and always making a mess of themselves and their surroundings. I won't deny that my early efforts in tending to their needs were a cynical, self-serving ploy. I'm not sure when or how my feelings changed, but I know I wanted to weep when Rainy left the lair for his new home. I know I have been doubly grateful for every day that Gaellian and Snowshadow have remained. I wouldn't sabotage their chances of finding a home, not for anything. But part of me rejoices each time we check at the matchmaker's, and the answer is 'no offers.'

Gaellian especially: she has always been my favorite, with her sweet smile and her eager, pointed curiosity. All the hatchlings ask questions, constantly, but only Gaellian never forgets the answers. For his mother's sake, I learned to love Snowshadow, but Gaellian I would have adored anyway.

So when Gaellian spoke wistfully of wanting to see the sea, I took her to RoseKnight to discuss taking her myself.

"I thought we'd let you go on the next trip to the Lair by the Sea," RoseKnight said to her. "I don't want Aristodemos going to all that trouble .... "

"It's no trouble," I assured her. "We can make a day trip just down the river to the outer sea, and be back before dark."

"That's so considerate of you, Aristodemos, but it won't be that long before the next visit to the Lair by the Sea ... "

"I want to go there, too!" Gaellian protested. "But what if an offer comes for me before then? What if I go away to the Iceland Wastes or something? What if I never have a chance again?"

I gave Rose'night my best pleading look, and she relented at that. She offered me many gracious thanks and her daughter even more admonishments to behave herself and do as I told her.

We left the next day at dawn, eager for the adventure. Halfway there, Scholar caught up to us. He was leading a mixed pack of dolphins and merfolk. "I heard you were going on an expedition!" he said, cheerfully. "Thought I'd join you. Looking to forge some more diplomatic ties with the mer along the coast, you know."

Inwardly, I snarled. Is it not enough that I have to share the mother's time with him? Must he ruin this outing too? Gaellian waved with a happy squeal, calling out to Scholar and each of his pets by name. Jealosy stabbed through me. "Oh?" I asked, with feigned nonchalance. "Which way are you headed on the coast?"

"South of the river mouth, ten or fifteen miles. There's a school of mer we'll be meeting."

"Oh, what a shame," I lied. "We'll be headed north."

Gaellian's crest fell. "Awww why? Can't we go south with them?"

"You want to see where the Dream fell, don't you? Besides, I'm sure we'd only be in Scholar's way. We can't interrupt his important research," I said. Gaellian hung her head but gave a little nod. Scholar shot me a glare, but I kept my expression bland and betrayed no sign of my maneuvering or triumph. We stayed together the course of the river, Gaellian disporting with the waterfolk. Before we parted ways at the sea, Scholar warned us against a hostile tribe of Shade-mer some fifteen miles up the coast from where the Dream had fallen. I'd no intention of going so far and only nodded acknowledgement.

The ocean's waves distracted Gaellian from the loss of her extra companions, and she gambolled among them like a fae as we moved up the coast.

There's little to be seen where the Dream once fell. Most of the wreckage was scavenged at the time. Mostly it's just some long black trenches like scars in the ground, made not by the airship's impact, but by tentacles of the yet-undefeated demon lord. We explored the area with appropriate solemness. A new clan lives nearby, in the site where the Lair by the Sea once dwelt before they left for the Tangled Wood. We greeted them and partook of a midday meal before we flew back to the sea for a swim.

We played together in the waves for quite a while together. At length, I went back to the beach to dry off in the warm sun, and instructed my charge to stay in the shallows.

I lay in a warm, contented half-doze, watching her play through slitted eyes.

I didn't realize how far out she'd actually gotten until I heard her give a delighted squeal. "Mer!"  I sat up to see her waving a wing to an unfamiliar merman. A school of them was swimming down.

From the north.

I bolted to my feet, suddenly alert. "Gaellian! Get out of the water, now!"

She turned to me with a pout and lingered in the waves. "Whyyyy?"

I took to the air, flying to her. "NOW, GAELLIAN!" I roared.

She tried to obey, but her wings and fur were too waterlogged for her to fly. She was swimming for shore when the first merman threw his spear at her.

Gaellian screamed and struggled to swim faster. The mer tribe was far faster and more nimble. I plunged among them with claws and teeth, distracting them but doing little damage. I am no great fighter, and there were many more of them. Two reached Gaellian and tried to pull her beneath the waves. "GAELLIAN!" I screamed, and dived after her.

Then she rose from the waves on the back of a golden porpoise, as a green one shrieked and drove back the mer. The shapes of familiar merfolk fell upon us, stabbing at the hostile tribe, porpoises flanking them in the counterassault. Scholar followed in their wake, leashing one hostile and helping his pack of waterfolk to rescue us.

"Sorry, sorry," Scholar was saying as a porpoise carried Gaellian to the shore. "I came as soon as I -- my friends told me the Shade-mer had been moving south -- didn't know -- "

I landed beside Gaellian. "How hurt are you? Can you walk?"

She fell against my side, sobbing. "I'm all right, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't've gone out so far, Demos, I'm sorry."

I hugged her to me with wing and foreleg. "Shh, shh, it doesn't matter now. You're safe now." I lifted my head to look at Scholar. He was hovering over us anxiously. In that moment, I thought: I've lost. I could never match this service in RoseKnight's eyes. Scholar had earned his place and I would soon be gone. My eyes brimmed with tears.

I could not even resent him for it. "Thank you, Scholar," I said, earnestly. "Thank you."