Chapter 2 #2
“Hmm,” the man hummed. “You don’t know much at all of it, do you? And now…” He tilted his head to the side, gaze sliding over her. His eyes no longer appeared so bright. “Now, you’re regretting coming here. Maybe you’re even afraid.”
“Should I be?”
He shrugged as if it did not matter, laying back on the stone and throwing a forearm over his eyes to block out the sunlight. “My name is Morgen. Figured we should at least know that much about each other, since Varax insists on collecting us both.”
She blinked a few times. After a few short moments of initial shock, he was being oddly casual about this. It was probably a bad sign.
She had never heard of one dragon with two riders. Technically, Heles and Thessilnn had both claimed her parents, even letting her into the mental pathway when necessary. So perhaps this wasn’t as unusual as she assumed. Maybe lots of dragons had two riders in Arcadia.
“No, they definitely don’t,” Morgen said, voice muffled. “I wouldn’t have come all the way out here if this was a normal occurrence, even with Varax’s constant insistence.”
She stiffened. “You can hear me?”
He lifted his arm, squinting at her. “I don’t think I always can. Just when Varax leaves the pathway open. For example, just now, I only heard that last bit of what I assume was a lot of spiraling. ”
This notion, she was familiar with. Her parents were constantly speaking silently, enough to the point it sometimes irritated her, because their dragons always allowed for it. Letting her into the connection only occurred when necessary, usually when Thessilnn wanted to scold her.
“So, just to clarify, this is not a common occurrence?”
Morgen propped himself on his elbows. He was wearing a sleeveless leather tunic, and she tried to ignore the muscles straining in his biceps.
“Dragons don't typically have more than one rider at a time,” he said, brow raised. “Ever, actually, as I understand it. But you don’t seem as shocked as I would have expected. Have you never studied dragonlore?”
She probably should have said yes. It would look far less suspicious. Instead, she shook her head. “No, I have. I…just thought I read something about this once.”
“Mhm.”
She looked away, twisting her fingers in her lap. He obviously didn’t believe her, though he didn’t push either.
“Where did you come from?” she asked, clearing her throat in an effort to break up the nervous tension in her body.
“Somewhere you’ve never been.”
She surprised herself when she snorted loudly and replied, “That’s presumptuous."
“Fine, then. Arcadia.”
Now, she looked at him sharply, lips parting. He really had been to the land of the gods, a place she had only ever been able to conjure up weakly in her imagination. She wondered if he’d ever met any of the principals. Maybe someday, if he kept coming back, he could tell her what they were like.
“That’s…far,” she settled on after a few moments of silence he hadn’t bothered to break. “You must have been traveling for days.”
He laughed, the sound so rough, it almost seemed like it hurt. She noticed he had another scar, this one cutting across his throat.
It looked like someone had tried to slit it.
He must’ve noticed her looking, because he raised a hand to his neck, ghosting the scar. “Ah. That is a story for another time.”
She found it odd he planned to tell her at all. They had just met, after all.
“What was funny?” she asked instead of inquiring about his scars like she wanted to.
He tipped his head back, throat working. “Sorry, inside joke.”
She looked away but pressed, “Between you and…?”
“Me and myself, mostly.”
Turning to him again, she frowned at the odd answer. “Uh-huh.”
“But to answer your question about my journey here—Varax and I took a shortcut of sorts. She’s not a fan of long flights.”
Nya nodded slowly, wracking her brain for what he could possibly mean.
She remembered reading once that ether could be used to create shorter pathways between places; powerful gods, usually the eight principals, could tug on the invisible strands of silver matter that made up the universe, creating a portal.
But did Morgen actually mean he had portalled himself and an entire dragon here all the way from somewhere in Arcadia?
“Who exactly are you?” she whispered, slowly shaking her head.
He caught her eyes, the only feature that differed from a face that was almost entirely identical to her mother’s. She had her father’s dark, hooded eyes.
“Who are you?” Morgen replied softly; a challenge she didn’t actually think he wanted her to take.
Neither of them answered the other’s question, nor did they look away, in some sort of silent agreement. She solidified it when she said, “My name is Nya, if you didn’t catch that from Varax.”
His mouth twitched, lowering his chin in a shallow nod. They understood each other; they would not share their true identities and would not ask for explanation.
“Alright, Nya. What would you like to do today?” he asked, tilting his head to the side. “We should figure something out, since I have an inkling Varax is going to insist on semi-regular visits now that she finally convinced you to meet us.”
She forced herself to relax into the agreement between them, to bite back her questions about who he was, his true reason for coming here, and how in the gods’ names he had so much power.
Instead, she quieted her curious nature for once and laid back on the stone with him, letting her clothes dry and accepting this for what it was for now.
She’d never had a friend, not unless she counted her parent’s dragons. Perhaps, for now, this strange understanding brought about by even stranger circumstances could be just that. Morgen didn’t seem inclined to make it anything else either.
“We could join Varax in her frolicking.”
He chuckled—again, with that rough, grating sound that made her wonder just what had been done to him—and warned, “I’d be careful. She’s a very proud creature.”
I will forgive this first offense, Varax grumbled, and Nya and Morgen shared an amused look as she added, Though the water is pleasant.
Nya laughed, eyes on the hazy morning sky above.