The White Dragon Revealed (Dragon's Reign #5)

7. Never Be Boring

NEVER BE BORING

“ C ome on, Valerius, get on my hoverboard!” Kaila leaned down and wiggled her fingers at him as she said it. As if he was a wild animal she wanted to lure to its doom.

“No,” Valerius said with a shake of his head as he leaned back in his chair.

They were out in the courtyard. Chione had promised to bring Caden bacon in the dungeon, but one whiff of the fire and brimstone in the dungeon had her backing out, waving a hand in front of her face, and telling them she would have a table set out in the fresh open air.

That was where he, Caden, Esme, Tez and Kaila now were. The table was laden with so much food that it was practically groaning. But the way Caden was inhaling the food--especially the bacon, he’d growled when Tez had even looked at the platter--there very well might not be enough. Valerius found himself smiling fondly at the young man. He knew it was ridiculous for him to find a normal Dragon Shifter’s appetite endearing. The way Esme smirked at him told him that yes , it was ridiculous, but she found him endearing nonetheless too.

“Pretty please?” Kaila was now threatening to pout, but unlike Caden’s puppy eyes, he was unmoved.

“No,” he repeated.

She wishes us to fall on our butt and then laugh at us, Raziel snorted and placed its massive head on its forearms.

Indeed, Valerius remarked dryly.

She always laughs at us. More snorts from Raziel.

I think that is one of her powers. To make one feel ridiculous. How can one pretend to be a big, strong Dragon on one’s butt? Valerius muttered.

Kaila was standing while the rest of them were seated. She had the hoverboard on the ground with her bare left foot on it. She was moving it back and forth. It glided smoothly about six inches off the stones. It seemed solid and easy to use, but it would not be.

Kaila sighed. “I realize that you have never surfed , Valerius, so your balance might not be what mine is.” She splayed a hand across her chest. He knew that she was trying to goad him into trying the hoverboard. “But I’m sure you’re not so clumsy as to be unable to simply stand on my board.”

“You sound so reasonable, Kaila,” Esme said, but her lips were twitching suspiciously.

“I am.” Kaila’s head tipped back. She was looking at the skies as if the heavens themselves proclaimed how reasonable she was, and how unreasonable he was.

“I am still not getting on that hoverboard,” Valerius murmured as he popped a grape into his mouth.

Her head snapped towards him and her sparkling eyes narrowed. If she did not look so cute, the effect would have been greater.

Not against us. Raziel stretched out a claw and spread its toes.

“Fine! Be uncool! Be boring !” Kaila’s hands were on her hips. “Be an old, fuddy duddy!”

“I think she knows you too well, Valerius,” Tez chuckled as he tucked into a cheese and ham omelet.

It was Valerius’ turn to narrow his eyes. “So if I am an old fuddy duddy, what are you, Tez? Why aren’t you jumping on that infernal device to ride it around and show us olds how its done? ”

Caden made a choking noise, which had Valerius thumping his back. Red-faced, Caden thanked him and then said, “Olds? You almost sounded--”

“Hip?” Esme chuckled.

Valerius just shrugged and turned back to Tez. “I am waiting for you to get on that hoverboard.”

Tez looked alarmed. He had that deer in the headlights look. Eldoron was very particular about always looking its best. Tez falling on his ass would not fit in with that look.

What lie will he make up? Raziel’s claws clacked as it put one toe down at a time.

“I’m eating right now.” Tez’s cheeks were burning as he stuffed so much omelet into his mouth that he couldn’t even speak.

Kaila let out a moan and stomped her foot on the hoverboard which bobbled and nearly slid out from under her. She quickly caught her balance though and pretended it hadn’t happened.

“Caden, surely you want to try my hoverboard?” Kaila’s lower lip thrust out at him.

Caden--still chewing bacon, Chione was on a phone call with the president so he might have to ask for more bacon himself--looked at the hoverboard, at Kaila’s pleading face, then over at Valerius’ neutral expression before looking back at the hoverboard.

“I heard that they banned hoverboards because they’re dangerous,” Caden finally said.

“Caden! Oh, you mustn’t be afraid! I’ll make sure you’re safe! We have a connection already and I would never let anything happen to you!” Kaila’s eyes were simply shining .

“You really can’t get hurt, Caden dear. Remember that we’re Dragon Shifters. Practically indestructible. Remember how you lifted that door? Same thing here but with invulnerability,” Esme reminded him. “That’s not why these two chickens--I mean brave Dragon Shifters--won’t try it.”

“Why won’t they?” Caden’s eyes were wide with curiosity.

“Dignity. They are afraid of their dignity being bruised,” she said .

“Yes! Yes!” Kaila bounced up and down on the hoverboard, managing to keep her feet rather remarkably.

“I don’t understand. You guys are all… well, not graceful, but very athletic!” Caden cried loyally.

Kaila leaned towards Caden and curled one hand around her mouth as she whispered, “Raziel has a big butt and therefore tends to tip back. Now you may say that doesn’t matter because it is Valerius using the hoverboard, but I tell you that it translates. Big dragon butts have an impact on the human form.”

Caden stared at her silently for a long moment, but then he was laughing so hard that he was pounding the table. “Oh, God, I can see that! I can so--Valerius, don’t be mad! I love Raziel’s butt! Iolaire loves Raziel’s butt!”

Valerius was scowling at him. Raziel’s head had lifted from its forearms to also scowl at Caden. Caden swallowed.

Tez murmured, “I would imagine Caden enjoys Valerius’ butt very much for many reasons.”

Kaila held up a hand and showed it tipping backwards. “Tip. Right on the ass!”

Then everyone was laughing, even Valerius. Raziel just shook its massive head and laid it down. Its big butt was a powerful butt and it would make sure that Kaila’s Spirit Lana remembered that the next time they flew together. That had Valerius’ smile growing.

“What part of Eldoron is causing Tez to be… ah, ungainly on the hoverboard?” Caden asked as he wiped his tears from his eyes.

Tez straightened. “Nothing! Eldoron is perfect!”

Kaila’s eyes were narrowed as she studied Tez critically as if she could see through him to Eldoron. “I think the biggest part of Eldoron is…”

Tez looked like he was awaiting a pronouncement of doom.

“... is…”

Tez quivered.

Then she smiled and said, “It's heart! A big heart.”

“Yes! Exactly.” Tez went back to happily buttering toast .

“What about you, Esme? Are you going to take a ride on the hoverboard?” Caden asked the Blue Dragon Shifter.

“Oh, not with these shoes, dear.” She gracefully extended one foot and showed an expensive high heeled shoe.

“But you can take them off, Esme!” Kaila waggled her bare left foot.

“No, darling. The shoes go with the outfit. Remove them and it doesn’t work,” Esme said as she took a bite of a scone followed by a sip of tea.

Caden smirked and went back to his bacon even as Kaila looked utterly crestfallen. She wouldn’t get any victims today for her hoverboard.

“Perhaps Illarion will try your hoverboard, Kaila,” Tez said with a titter.

Kaila’s eyes widened with alarm as she flipped the hoverboard up into her arms and clutched it to her chest. “I wouldn’t let him touch Dolly!”

“Dolly?” Caden asked.

Kaila stroked the hoverboard, which Valerius noted had the image of a dolphin on it.

“My favorite dolphin. She’s amazing. Truly amazing. I couldn’t bring her here, obviously, because there is no ocean.” Her lips writhed back from her teeth as if it was quite distressing. “So I painted her on my hoverboard and now she’s with me even here in this practical desert.”

Valerius felt piqued. “It is not a desert. This is a temperate zone.”

“Desert,” Kaila murmured under her breath.

“Well, I doubt that Illarion will make an appearance anytime soon,” Esme said with a soft huff of laughter. “He’s recovering from the reality of Caden and Iolaire.”

“What reality?” Kaila looked interested again.

Caden let out a groan and let his head tip back.

“He thought Caden was a girl!” Tez snickered.

“Okay.” Kaila looked as bewildered as Tez had at first, too. “And?”

“He’s not,” Esme said as she looked very amused .

“I don’t follow.” Kaila’s brow scrunched.

“He said we were mates, but is only into women sexually, I guess. It’s a terrible, horrible story and I’m just glad that it's over before it began,” Caden told her quickly. He then narrowed his eyes at her. “You knew I was the White Dragon Shifter immediately.”

“Of course! Which is why this is all so confusing about Illarion…” Kaila’s brow was still scrunched.

“How did you know that, dear?” Esme asked as she wiped her hands on her napkin.

“It’s my sight!” Kaila answered brightly.

No one looked brightly back in return. Everyone looked flummoxed in all honesty.

“If a person is in their Spirit form, I can see their human form and vice versa!” Kaila explained.

“Oh, that’s cool! So I couldn’t have ever kept my identity secret from you…” Caden looked disturbed.

Valerius was and wasn’t surprised. It explained some things such as how Kaila always seemed to anticipate attacks from other Shifters. Basically, she would be able to anticipate the types of powers to be used against her. He wondered how far her sight went.

“Yes, it’s fun!” Kaila beamed. “So… what are we going to do? Huh? Huh?”

“Uhm, eat and then… I was hoping to nap,” Caden admitted with a shy look at Valerius.

“Nap?” She exaggerated her lip movements as she repeated Caden’s word. “You can’t be serious? It’s a beautiful day!”

“Yeah, napping in the sun is awesome.” Caden’s head tilted to the side and his eyes glazed over as he talked of naps. “You like naps in the sun, too, right, Valerius?”

“I do,” Valerius said.

“Big butt,” Kaila whispered.

He shot her a look that had her grinning. “But we have to do something fun! We’re all here and we’re never together. We can’t just waste the time!”

“You do have a point, Kaila,” Esme said.

“Yes! Maybe we can do a fake aerial battle!” Kaila started to describe the scene. “Valerius can chase Caden past each of us. We do our powerful attacks--just missing him of course--but to the people below it will look real! There will be dive bombing of the crowds. People will shout and clap and--”

“Scream?” Tez raised an eyebrow.

“Not if we tell them we’re just doing a show! Like the most ultimate show on Earth!” Kaila enthused. “Just look at how excited people were to watch Iolaire and Raziel fight!”

“That wasn’t good. People died, Kaila. It wasn’t for fun.” Caden shivered and Valerius held him tighter.

“Oh, yes, of course, you’re right. That--that was terrible, but I was just thinking about how much my people love to see me use my powers while the rest of you hide yours ever so much.”

“Maybe a fake battle later? When people are less edgy after all the bombs and stuff,” Caden suggested.

“Indeed, speaking of the bombs,” Esme began.

Esme folded her napkin and placed it beside her plate. She looked meaningfully at Valerius to see if he wanted to bring Kaila into the know about the possible war on the world by the Faith. Valerius had no doubts about Kaila. She had nothing to do with any of this. Her butterfly-like mind was immune to such zealotry. And though like all of them, Kaila could be fierce, she did not have the desire to hold onto anything--especially anger and hatred--for long. So Valerius nodded.

“We were all discussing the bombings and current events,” Esme began.

“Oh, boring! Gah! Esme, don’t let us talk about those terrible things!” Kaila stuck out her tongue. “I didn’t think of them at all which is why I didn’t realize the fake attack wouldn’t be good!”

“But it’s important, Kaila,” Caden said earnestly.

“Yes, yes, I know! But…” Kaila struggled to find the words for what she felt, but finally she found them and they rushed out in a torrent, “There has always been hatred in people’s hearts and there always will be. It’s pointless to think you can change that. And pointless things are boring! ”

“If it was just trying to stop people from hating, I would agree with you,” Caden said carefully. His earnest heart could not imagine clearly not trying to fix things. “But this is a conspiracy to cause death and chaos. We can stop that.”

“Perhaps!” She set the hoverboard down and started to glide around the table in a large circle. “But violence is inevitable. Death and chaos are inevitable.”

“Why do you say that?” Tez blinked at her.

“Because there’s an imbalance.” Kaila though was perfectly balanced as she spun around.

“Between humans and Shifters?” Caden asked.

“Yes. And between humans and humans. And between Shifters and Shifters,” Kaila explained as she stretched her arms upwards, fluttering her fingers in the sunlight. “But yes, the most obvious overall imbalance is between humans and Shifters. Humans thought they were on top for a very long time. Now, they see they are not. And those that are wise enough to see that know things are not going to get better for humanity in the years ahead.”

Valerius frowned. “I do not see why we cannot sustain some kind of balance through--”

“Our influence? Our wills?” Kaila stopped gliding and stared at him as if he had suddenly turned into a frog. “Valerius, you, of all people, I thought would understand this! You’ve kept your hands off things in the past but now you want to try and mold the world?” Then her eyes flickered between him and Caden. She noted the arm he had around Caden’s shoulders. The way Caden snuggled against him. A sad smile crossed her face. “Ah, I see!”

“What do you see?” Valerius growled. If she was going to think that his desire to stop the current violence that was ongoing was some kind of lovesick action, he would have words with her.

Raziel, however, did not seem to think this was a problem. It murmured, Iolaire is worth much. I would have this world sing for Iolaire.

Yes, as I would for Caden. But she intimates that we are being blind to reality because of our… affections, Valerius pointed out to his Spirit. I feel much more clear-sighted than I have ever been! Like I have woken after a deep sleep and now am fully awake once more! Do you not feel this way, Raziel?

I do, but that it comes from love does not make it any less. Raziel closed its eyelids as it said this.

Love…

Raziel started to snore.

Are you in love with Iolaire? Valerius asked the sleeping Spirit. Did you just tell me that Iolaire is your mate and then start snoring?

Raziel continued to snore.

“You want to make the world a better place for Caden.” Kaila’s sad smile remained. He was about to shout at her that this wasn’t the case when she added, “That’s very commendable. I wish my heart was so full that I wanted to try and change the world… well, you get my point.”

“We guide the world, Kaila. I think we’re quite capable of moving things, if just a little,” Esme said almost coldly.

She had reason to believe she could guide things. She’d guided many kingdoms for a long time. She’d made history what it was some would say.

“Oh, Esme, dearest, I didn’t mean to say that we--or maybe you --couldn’t change this, but some things are inevitable no matter how much we nibble around the edges!” Kaila hovered over behind the Blue Dragon Shifter and put her hands on Esme’s shoulders. “Because, in the end, controlling this is like trying to control the ocean itself. You can make waves here and smooth seas there, but in the end… the water flows as it will.”

Valerius understood her position. In his most dour, people-doubting moments, he and Raziel wanted to just fly up to the tallest mountain peaks and never come down. People were awful. People were often monstrous. People often deserved to die. But, then again, there were so many who were wonderful and angelic and deserved a life worth living. Maybe he did view things differently with Caden here. Maybe she wasn’t altogether wrong about that.

“Caden has had an effect on me,” Valerius finally said. He reached up and drew his fingers through Caden’s curls. Caden immediately turned and smiled at him. “He’s made me realize that we need to not have a world where nihilism reigns. I do want a world that he will love and continue to love.”

Caden kissed his cheek. “Just knowing you want to try is huge.”

Valerius kissed his temple. Tez’s chin was resting in his hands as he gazed at them.

“You make me believe in true love again,” Tez sighed. “To think that we all came here to court Caden!”

“Speak for yourself. I came for friendship.” Esme put a hand on her chest. “I knew Valerius would never let Iolaire go when it appeared in his territory first.”

Caden stared at her. “You really thought that?”

“Oh yes, from the moment he complained about you, I knew what the end result would be,” Esme said.

“So then I don’t have to worry about you all courting me? I mean, it’s clear that Illarion is out,” Caden said.

“Oh, but courting you would be fun!” Kaila protested. Before Valerius could growl anything, she added, “But I like girls like Illarion likes girls so it would be like courting you as a friend . A very good friend.”

Caden frowned, but then his expression cleared. “You have my friendship, Kaila. But I would like to get to know you one on one. I’d like to get to know all of you that way. And together.”

“Yes, we must do that.” Tez rubbed his hands together as if he couldn’t wait to get started.

A faint alarm bloomed in Valerius’ chest, but he immediately squashed it. Because he knew that Caden wanted to be with him. And the young Shifter should take advantage of befriending the other Dragon Shifters while they were here. Now. Because he wasn’t going to let Caden go to any other territory any time soon. And he would never let Caden go by himself.

“So I would like to have some time with you now, Caden. Can we do something now?” Kaila pleaded.

At that moment, there was a buzz and Caden fumbled in his pockets to get his phone. “Sorry, guys, but this is a special phone so I need to answer. It has to be important.”

Valerius leaned towards Caden as he brought out the phone, wondering what disaster had befallen his territory now. He saw that it was Rose calling. He thought of Rose as a moderating influence on Caden’s innocence. She had been through the hard knocks of life. She knew the world could be cruel. So he wasn’t worried just by seeing her name on the screen.

Caden answered the phone, “Hey, Rose, what’s up?”

When he saw all of the Dragon Shifters staring at him, he shifted a little. Then Esme turned her head, pretending not to listen, as she studied the city down below. Tez found the remnants of his omelet fascinating. Kaila was already genuinely bored and looking for something to do.

Valerius’ hearing though was locked on Rose’s tone, which was higher than usual, “Hey, Caden, uhm… slight problem.”

“What? What’s wrong? Something up at Wally’s?” Caden lowered his voice as he asked, “Did he get buried in an avalanche of plushies again?”

“What?” Rose laughed. “No, no, Wally’s fine . But… uhm, I did something stupid.”

Caden sat up straight. “Are you okay? Do you need help?”

Rose let out a sigh. “You’re always so--so…” She sighed again. “I may have mentioned to Marban your idea about bringing Iolaire to the Below.”

“Okay.” Caden frowned, clearly not seeing a problem with this. “We probably should coordinate with him about--”

“He took the idea and ran with it,” she cut him off.

Valerius pinched the top of his nose. He had thought that by sending Marban to the ends of the Earth to get people for the Shifter Council that he would be out of Valerius’ hair. But no, no, of course not.

“All right.” Caden was still not seeing a problem clearly. “So what-- ”

“He’s already announced it,” she continued quickly. “And he’s making it like a joint thing and--”

At that moment, Chione came out of the castle doing one of her fast walks that meant she’d seen something she had to tell him about or show him. He did not keep a phone on him often. He liked to avoid the news like the plague. She made him acknowledge some of it.

“Valerius, you best see this,” Chione was saying as she thrust her tablet at him.

At the same time, Rose said, “He’s told everyone that Iolaire will be there today . Like in a few hours. As his special guest!”

Valerius saw the same announcement running on the news that Iolaire would be exclusively appearing in the Below with Marban at two that afternoon. Kaila was suddenly at his shoulder, edging Chione out.

“Oh, that looks fun!” Kaila enthused. “I want to go!”