Learning to Fall

"And what of the other tribes? You said that there were more on the island. What were they like?"

The priestess of the Light was one of the group of dragonettes gathered around Aytin. And while that group had waxed and waned since the beginning of the jubilee, she'd been there almost since the beginning.

He was actually starting to get annoyed with the cleric. Every time it looked like the group was ready to move on to another topic and he might be able to slip away, she pulled him back with another question.

The king's arrival had been the only point when her focus had waived. None of the guests had been able to miss his grand entrance on the back of a white dragon even larger than Faelon. But no sooner had they entered the grand hall than the priestess was on him again.

She'd been deaf to his every hint, too. He didn't dare do more than that, either. A priestess, even a minor one, wasn't someone to anger. And no one who had an invitation to this event could likely be counted as minor.

So instead of getting to enjoy any of the fine food and drink provided by the royal family he was stuck as the curiosity of some priestess whose name he couldn't even remember. Sister Karani or Kara or something like that.

'The food is probably the only thing that might make this whole thing worth it,' he thought, casting a side eye at a table where an entire roasted hog played centerpiece to more dishes than he had tried in his life. And it was just one of the side tables, not even the main feast!

A not so subtle throat clearing reminded Aytin that he still needed to answer the priestess's latest question.

"I never actually met the other tribes," he explained patiently. "They usually only meet for some sort of midsummer festival, and I didn't exactly have the time to stay for that."

'Although I hope to be back in time to see it. Rina sure made it clear that she wanted to show me off.'

Evidently, the bare facts weren't enough. "You must have heard about them, though. What were they like? How were they different from your tribe?"

He wondered if she was trying to organize some kind of missionary trip. Put in that context, the questions made sense. 'And I'm glad I gave the Matriarchs that warning.' He'd had a discussion with the trio along with Rina and Attalee. One Cue had not been present at. Even if the shaman had been hungry for every scrap of lore Aytin had been able to dredge up, he wasn't ready for the full revelation of Faelon's lack of divinity.

But the Matriarchs at least were aware of the Church of the Light's policy when it came to dragon worship. And hadn't that been a conversation? Matriarch Nej had taken it the hardest, but at least his dealings with them had always been more pragmatic than anything else. They had come around in the end.

If, and now likely when, a delegation of missionaries arrived, they could feign ignorance, and point out that their aid had been in exchange for Faelon's supplies. If some of the tribe had their own beliefs regarding dragons, well, none of them knew any better. That wasn't a crime in the eyes of the church. It was only when they knew better that it became heresy.

Which was a problem. One that was getting increasingly hard to avoid as this priestess asked more and more probing questions.

"They were a bit more nomadic," he finally answered. "The tribe I was with moved their villages between a few different spots to avoid hunting out any one place. The others preferred to follow the herds."

"They're just as ignorant of the teachings of the Court of the Light, though? Just as vulnerable to the forces of Darkness and Corruption?" There was a flash of zeal in her eyes that demanded an answer.

"They fight darklings and keep the island free of corruption," Aytin insisted, feeling the need to defend the people who took him in and fought for him. "All of them do. But none of them have had the chance to hear the church's teachings. They just have old stories, and they want to know more."

"Do they? You instructed them on the church's teachings?"

That question had more hidden crosswinds than a mountain pass in a winter gale. 'Would she be more upset that I didn't tell them more, or that I said anything at all?' Aytin chose his answer carefully. "I'm hardly a church scholar so I didn't go too much into it. But I told them a few things. The names of the gods, the origin of the Heaven Oaks, that sort of thing."

"There are as many versions of that story as there are islands in the skies," the priestess noted, disapproval clear in her tone as Aytin realized he had messed up.

'I should have lied. I should have told her that I stayed quiet and didn't tell them anything.'

Out loud he tried to salvage the situation. "I made it clear that I wasn't sure if I was remembering things right. I'm sure that if I made any mistakes, someone from the church can correct them easily enough."

That didn't seem to satisfy the cleric. He was sure that she was going to start asking even more pointed questions. Questions that could take the conversation places that he really didn't want it to go.

Thankfully, he was spared from that by a roar that shook the royal palace to its very foundations.

They were at the edge of one of the palace courtyards, so the source of the noise was clear to see. A diamond formation of five dragons had crested the white marble walls, all fully crewed and wearing the livery of the royal guard.

There was one of each color present, a veritable rainbow of draconic might. At an unseen signal, they once more roared as one, and the sheer force of it sent wine glasses tumbling and set stained glass windows quivering in their frames.

As they overflew the palace grounds, the formation split. Only the enormous red continued on, with the black and green dragons banking off to the sides. Their blue performed an airborne pirouette that had it flying a reverse course, leaving the white to spiral almost lazily up into the sky like a homesick cloud.

Reaching the walls, each of the dragons save the white turned sharply until they were all aligned on the central spire. Even as they did, the white high above began to level, then descend, and finally dive.

The dragons continued to gain speed. Every one of them was flying straight towards the point where their formation had split, and not a single one of them appeared to be preparing to give way.

Past a certain point, not even the most acrobatic blue could hope to dodge and the crowd took a collective breath as the five of them arrowed towards their inevitable collision. Three wingbeats away. Two. One.

There was a blue streak above the palace. Not even a heartbeat later, a green form passed through the same space. Then white, close enough that the talons of the black dragon nearly grazed its wings before the gargantuan red completed the display.

The five dragons performed flips as they passed, and they began to descend in a complicated spiral. Crewmembers took flight, adding to the spectacle. It looked like pure chaos, but it couldn't be. If two wings so much as brushed, no one saw.

Just above the palace grounds, the cloud of dragons and dragonettes seemed to coalesce. During the display, attendants had unobtrusively cleared guests from spaces on the manicured lawns, and each dragon and their crew made for patches suddenly marked with colorful streamers and banners. The black and his crew put down nearest to Aytin, a male with scales polished until they shone iridescent in the bright sun. His crew touched down a heartbeat later, barely having to shift to arrange themselves in perfect formation.

As one, the dragons and crews stood to attention, then bowed towards the central keep and, presumably, the king. Cheers and stomps of approval filled the marble halls as the guests showed their appreciation for the remarkable acrobatic performance of the royal guard.

Soon enough, conversations resumed. If it was a little louder than before, well, ears were still ringing.

All the dragons save for the enormous red made their way to the pavilions where most of the jubilee's draconic guests had gathered. The crews were escorted to prepared quarters while the officers mingled with guests or accompanied their partners.

And a Priestess of the Light twisted this way and that, searching for the dragonette that she had just been speaking to.

Aytin watched her from behind a court sketch artist who was too busy rendering the dragons' performance to notice her new companion. Once he was sure that he had made a clean escape, he slipped behind a column and into one of the banqueting halls.

Some part of him had been worried that the tables would have been stripped clean by the crowds of partygoers. He needn't have worried.

Tables groaned under enough food to feed an army. And not a small one. Entire flocks of birds of all shapes and sizes steamed on carving blocks, stuffed and roasted to a glistening golden perfection. Platters of braised wild boar loin and seared venison backstrap were scattered like common roasts. There were the more exotic dishes, everything from jackalopes to some sort of lizard with a flaky white meat.

Breads and cheeses and vegetables and fruits filled the gaps between the main courses, all expertly prepared and artfully arranged. The exquisitely carved and lacquered table of Heaven Oak it all rested on was practically invisible underneath the spread.

An attendant in the livery of the royal house offered Aytin a plate full of meat carved from a whole roasted tirox. He accepted it, already salivating at the scent of tender meat and herbs. On top he added some of the baked lizard, white bread, a soft cheese, jellied meat broth, and several slices of fruit. It wasn't enough to fill the plate, but that was deliberate. The most extravagant section of the feast was still to come.

As the son of a minor noble in a successful keep, Aytin had more access to sweets than most dragonettes. Berries, needlefruit syrup, cider, and even occasional tastes of honey.

Just a single plate worth of some of the sweets on display might be more than his family saw in a year. And the table was piled with cakes and puddings and pastries and things he had never even known existed. Small flames burned under some dishes to keep them warm while a gentle fog spilled out of one large bowl, a sure sign that frost powder was keeping something inside cool.

"That was neatly done back there."

The familiar voice caused Aytin to spin, nearly spilling his plate. Only swiftly channeling his magic let him regain enough balance to save his meal.

"Lord Carnot!"

"Good afternoon, Master Luffin," the older dragonette answered with a thin smile. "As I was saying, I saw you slip away. That priestess can be particularly irksome, on occasion. You did well to make your escape." His smile grew imperceptibly, and was accompanied by a conspiratorial flick of one ear.

"Now," he continued, demeanor shifting back to that of a high noble. "If you want my recommendation, I understand the candies are particularly good." He indicated a bowl filled with what looked more like brightly colored rocks than food.

"These are... candies?" Aytin asked, picking one of the small not-rocks as he used the unfamiliar word. It was lighter than he expected, but hard enough to clack softly against his talons.

There was a firm nod in response. "A newly discovered treat from a keep on the edge of the frontier. Apparently the source of a great many new things, as of late."

"Okay. I'll try it. Thank you." The last was added a bit belatedly as he set it on his plate.

Lord Carnot nodded once more, then motioned to the remaining desserts. "Fill your plate, and then come with me. There's someone who wants to meet you."

"Uhhh..." Aytin tried to think of a way to gracefully refuse the invitation. He still wasn't sure he completely trusted the old noble. Unfortunately, he had no ready excuse to decline, and doing so without one would be the height of offense.

So he shrugged, grabbed a few desserts at random, picked up a cup of wine from an attendant, and followed Lord Carnot past a line of tables.

It was a struggle to keep up. Aytin's clothing wasn't exactly made with ease of movement in mind. Quite the opposite, in fact. The hastily rented outfit didn't quite fit, and it squeezed in some awkwards places when he tried to move quickly.

He did appreciate the way the silver embroidery on the bright blue vest almost mimicked his scale pattern. And the fabric was comfortable enough, not itchy at all. It would have been nice if those weren't about the only good things he could say about it.

He definitely wouldn't be doing any flying. The tight collar around the base of his tail and the lacing around his wings were far too restrictive for that. They had arrived on the back of a dragon doing brisk business in flying the minor nobility up to the royal palace, and the whole way had been a struggle to keep his perpetually half-spread wings from catching the wind.

Lord Carnot wore a similar style of outfit, one cut from a bright white fabric with gold trimming. Either through better tailoring or lots of practice, he wasn't having any trouble striding through the crowds. In fact, they practically parted for the elderly lord, and Aytin had to scramble to push through the rapidly closing gaps.

Twice he had to channel power to avoid tripping. His rapid passage still earned him dirty looks as he brushed aside someone's wings or nudged a tail in passing.

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Their path led into an alcove out of the way of the pressing crowds. A single table with a crisp, white tablecloth was bathed in early afternoon sunlight through one of the wide windows. The dragonette sitting there with her own cup of wine rose as they entered.

And Aytin froze.

Tall, horns with a hint of a curve to the ends, and a smile he knew all too well.

'Xantha!'

He nearly shouted the name. It was almost too late before he realized that this couldn't be the brigand leader. She was younger, unscarred. Older than he was, but still years away from middle age. Her snout was slightly longer and she had eyes with the same downward flick of the edges that Lord Carnot had. She was leaner, too, lithe and graceful where Xantha had been solidly built with the hard-won muscles of someone who worked for a living.

More importantly, she wasn't dead.

Aytin had seen Xantha's broken and mangled body. When Faelon had ordered it thrown off the side of the island, he had made the journey with the party of wildlings to watch it fall into the seas below. Such was the lot of all traitors.

No, this dragonette wasn't the one who had betrayed and mutilated him, no matter how closely she resembled Xantha. But he could make a guess as to her identity.

Aytin gave as much of a bow as he could with his hands full. "Kesti, I presume?"

Her smile brightened and she returned the bow. Strategic slits in her golden gown gave her much more flexibility than Aytin could muster. "It's good to finally meet you, Aytin," she replied, her voice warm in a way that her mother had never quite managed, even when she was pretending to be a mentor. "I see Uncle Odit told you about me?"

"Just a little," he admitted. Then, awkwardly, he set his plate and glass on the table.

Looking towards Lord Carnot for help provided none. Instead, the old dragonette merely inclined his head and said, "If the two of you will excuse me, I see Lady Senca over there, and I really must speak with her." Aytin could have sworn that there was a malicious twinkle in his eyes as he strode off, leaving the two of them alone.

Turning back to Kesti, he found that she was staring at him, a small smile on her face and head cocked slightly, as if in question. She looked utterly at ease, which only made his own discomfort worse.

He shifted his weight from foot to foot, trying to come up with anything to say, and hoping she would take pity on him and break the growing silence.

No such luck. She just stood there, staring expectantly.

"Did Od- Lord Carnot. Did he tell you what... I mean, how much do you know about... about... Oh, gods damn it." He rubbed his face with one hand as Kesti snorted.

"Wow, Uncle wasn't kidding. You really are a greenhorn at court."

"I... yeah." He looked down at his feet in embarrassment.

"Oh, don't be like that! I'm not some high society lady you need to impress. Sit down and eat!" She pulled her own chair out, twisted it around, and sat so that her neck snaked over the back in a way that almost made it look elegant. "The tirox is particularly good. We don't usually get it this far from the frontier."

Aytin followed her lead, although he used his chair properly. It still felt somehow like a trap. But her expression didn't change as he lifted a piece of the juicy, pink steak to his mouth.

"This really is good," he admitted around the mouthful. "A lot better than the last one I had."

"Oh? And when was that?"

He froze, another piece half-raised. "Uh..."

"Actually, I think I can guess," she said, almost kindly. "And to answer the question you were trying to ask earlier, my uncle has never made any secret about my birth mother."

"That's... well, it makes things easier."

"He told me you killed her."

She said it in exactly the same tone as she had used commenting on the tirox.

Aytin suddenly found it hard to swallow. At his expression, Kesti added, "Don't worry, I'm not mad. Not at you. Not really."

'What do I say to that?' He had no idea. His glass of wine was still untouched and he took a big sip to wet his suddenly dry mouth.

It turned out that he didn't need to say anything, because Kesti went on unprompted. "I do wish I could have seen her. Told her what I thought of her abandoning me."

"I thought that your uncle... well, he didn't tell it that way."

Aytin regretted opening his mouth as soon as the words passed his lips, but thankfully Kesti just shrugged. "Well, she as good as abandoned me. I can remember her a little, you know? Back in the keep. She was supposed to be a huntress and I thought that was the best thing in the world, but looking back?" Her wings rustled and mouth twisted. "My mother didn't really do anything. Didn't carry her weight. The Carnots gave us everything and she gave nothing in return. And after they kicked her out, she didn't give a crap about me."

"She hated your uncle. She said he stole you from her."

Kesti paused for a moment, then shook her head. "If she really cared, she wouldn't have just left me there. It's not like they kept me locked up in the family estate or something. No, whatever you heard was just a story she used to justify herself. I'm right, aren't I? Uncle Odit said she did that sort of thing a lot."

Aytin nodded, a little hesitantly. He avoided responding through the expedient of a mouthful of more tirox.

For a few moments, Kesti seemed content to let the pause linger. But her expression slowly turned pensive. This time, she was the one to break the silence. "You said she talked about me?"

"A little."

The woman leaned forward slightly. "When? What did she say?"

Unable to escape the direct question, Aytin answered, "Not long after she did this." He pointed to the scars on his wings. "I asked why she did it. She went on a long rant about how nobles had stolen you, and it was my fault."

Strangely, she brightened noticeably at his words. "See, what did I tell you? Justifying herself."

"That... does sound like her," he admitted before going back to staring at his food.

"She didn't say anything else about me?" Kesti pressed.

"Nothing while she was pretending to be my best friend on the crew," was his flat reply. "And after that I wasn't too interested in talking to her."

"But what about-"

"What do you want me to say?!" Aytin snapped, jerking up from his plate and glaring. "She killed a lot of people I cared about. She crippled Faelon for life. She betrayed me, tortured me, and tried to kill me. Sorry, but your mother isn't exactly someone I want to talk about."

"Oh... I... I'm sorry." For the first time, Kesti's sense of self-assurance seemed to falter. Her eyes widened and ears tipped back at the rebuke. "I'm usually better than this. Only... well, again, I'm sorry."

With a groan, Aytin leaned back and raised his head to stare upwards. A chandelier hung above them, its candles unlit but crystal ornaments sparkling in the sunlight. He watched it glitter for several long heartbeats before letting out a breath.

"No, I think I understand. And I'm sorry, too, it's just..."

"Just she wasn't your favorite person in the world."

He cracked a small smile at that. "Yeah, I think you could say that."

"You know, you should eat that before it gets cold," Kesti said, indicating his plate. "I probably should have let you finish before I brought anything up. Here, I need some more wine. Do you need more wine? I expect you do."

She rose and picked a pitcher off of a side table where some servant had left it. In truth, Aytin had barely touched his glass, but he let her refill it all the same.

The food was perfectly cooked. He recognized hints of flavor from spices that normally commanded a prince's ransom. 'And there's enough out there to feed a small army. Is this where the money we pay to the tax collectors goes?'

With enough keeps all sending as much tribute as the Luffin family did, maybe something like this was only a minor extravagance. It was still hard to believe.

Not wanting to let the silence drag on too long, Aytin swallowed a bite of fruit and then said, "Your uncle mentioned that you were off doing some sort of negotiation when I visited."

She tilted her head for a moment as if in thought, then nodded firmly. "Oh, yes, there was a shipment stuck at a town a couple day's flight from here that needed straightening out."

That sounded reasonable enough. "What happened?"

"Well, the warehouse owner didn't want to stick with the deal we made with him to store some alchemical supplies. She wanted about twice the price we agreed on, and wouldn't release it until we paid up."

"So you flew all that way just to pay a warehouse owner?" Aytin asked.

"Oh, gods no," she said with a snort. "She was banking on us paying her extortion instead of wasting time negotiating. Happens from time to time, and when it does we have to make an example of them."

Aytin swallowed, the lump in his throat having nothing to do with the bite of bread he had just taken. "An example?"

"Nothing like that," she assured him with a wry smile. "Actually, this sort of thing is fairly easy to deal with. I just went to the local mayor and informed him that if the warehousing prices in town continued to rise then the Carnots and a few other interested families would be shifting our trade elsewhere. We ended up not having to pay a single copper for the warehousing because of the 'misunderstanding.'"

"That seems like a pretty substantial threat."

"Especially when it would wipe out about a third of the dragon crews traveling through their town. None of them paying for warehousing, of course, but also no provisions, rooms at the inns, or ale at the taverns. Nobody losing money to rigged games of dice or spending it on prostitutes."

Aytin sputtered into his glass of wine at that last part, and Kesti gave him a patronizing look. "I heard you flew with a dragon crew for weeks. You can't tell me you never heard them talk about that sort of thing?"

"Yeah, but... well, we're in the royal palace!"

She looked around as if just noticing their opulent surroundings. "So we are."

"Well... just..."

"I don't see that priestess around, or anyone else worth impressing. And the walls here might have ears, but it's only going to be the royals listening. You think that they're going to care?"

"Probably not," Aytin admitted.

"Now, if one of them was standing here, that might be a different story. Appearances have to be kept up and all that. But they're not and Uncle Odit said you didn't care about that sort of thing. Was he wrong?"

His time with the dragon crew, the brigands, and finally the wildlings hadn't done any favors for the young dragonette's sense of propriety. He shook his head slightly. "He told me that I was too open with my emotions."

"You do have a bit of that going on. I could probably help train that out of you, but I hear you're not going to be sticking around all that long. How's that going, by the way?"

Aytin stabbed a last bit of tirox with his knife and popped it into his mouth to give himself time to think. "They're going alright, I suppose," he offered after swallowing.

"I thought you had Trademaster Raleigh helping you there? He's usually very efficient."

"You know the trademaster? Oh, right, negotiator. I guess that does make sense."

She gave a nod, then twisted to indicate the crowd of guests outside, distorted by the stained glass. "I suspect most of them have met the trademaster at one point or another. The ones that do real work and don't glide along enjoying their family's wealth."

"Ah. Well, he is helping. At least, he's introduced me to the people that I need to know." Thankfully most of that had happened before his mother had arrived. He'd managed a scant few hours of freedom since then, but less than he'd have liked.

Still, setting up a new keep was a common enough project. The guilds knew their business where that was concerned, and most of what they needed from him could be handled through correspondence at this phase.

"Actually," he continued. "The real problem is that Faelon's title is being held up."

"Oh?" Kesti raised an eyeridge.

"Yeah, the king was going to announce a few new titles during this." Aytin waved a hand around. "But his got pulled at the last moment."

"It is coming a bit fast. But if it was already on the schedule..." She rubbed her chin in thought. "Well, there could be a lot of reasons for it."

"That's what the trademaster said. We just have to be underway by midsummer. Earlier would be better, that's just the latest the engineering and crafting guilds are willing to send a work party. Before they go, the cartographer guild has to meet with a crown representative and sign off, and there has to be a noble to own the land, so..." he trailed off with a shrug.

"Well, you have a few weeks. Plenty of time. And if you have to wait another year, it's not the end of the world."

"Maybe, but... well, I just promised."

Kesti gave him a sympathetic look. "We all do the best that we can. Sometimes that has to be enough."

"The good news is that I can get enough prepared that it shouldn't take long after the title comes through to launch the expedition. Maybe a week. And..." Aytin grinned slightly at the next part. "A lot of this just needs a noble to sign off on it. They'll accept Lord Luffin just as easily as Lord Faelon."

"Ha!" Kesti slapped her leg in appreciation. "There you go! But I'm a bit surprised that you have your mother helping you."

Aytin blinked. "Huh?"

"You're using the family title for this." She cocked her head and then her eyes widened. "Wait, does she not know?"

"Errrr..."

Kesti barked a laugh and then winced. "Oh, no. I shouldn't laugh, except that is too funny. Also not a great idea."

"Yeah. Yeah, I know." There wasn't much left on his plate except for the jewel that Lord Carnot had insisted was food. He picked it up and rubbed it between his fingers. "I haven't been able to figure out how to tell her yet."

"Sooner would be better than later, I'd say."

"Well, do you want to do it for me?"

"Hey, easy there." She raised her hands like she was calming some wild animal. "You sound more bitter than some black dragons I've met."

"Just... it's frustrating. And probably not something I should be talking about."

A small smile crept back onto her face. "You would be right about that. Family drama is always in demand with the court gossips. Normally a bit of fighting in a frontier family wouldn't amount to much, but enough people know your story that, well..."

She trailed off, but it didn't take a genius to fill in the blanks. He cursed under his breath, using a few choice phrases in the wildling tongue that he'd picked up from Rina.

"Oh, don't worry," Kesti added, brightly. "I'm good at keeping secrets.

"Apparently I'm not."

"All the more reason to come clean."

"I already said I know." Aytin let out a frustrated huff. He went to go rub the base of his horns and realized that he was still holding the candy that Lord Carnot had suggested he take. Needing a distraction, he popped it into his mouth.

The rock hard lump nearly broke a tooth as he bit down.

Kesti noticed the face he made. "Don't try to chew. Just suck on it for a bit. They're good, I promise."

He raised one eyeridge, but did as she said. After a few moments, the other shot up to join it as a rush of sweetness coated his tongue.

"This is... it's better than honey!"

"More expensive, too. They make it from this white powder and I think the royal family bought every speck of it left in the city for this party."

Honey was normally worth its weight in silver. If this cost even more, that was saying something.

Aytin's toes started to twitch involuntarily as his heartbeat quickened. It certainly had the same effects as honey. More, even. He suddenly felt like he had the energy to race a blue dragon and win.

"Well, it looks like someone is done sitting around," Kesti said coyly. She rose gracefully to her feet and motioned towards the main hall. "Come on, I know everyone worth knowing here. Let me show you around."