Chapter 13
Chapter
Thirteen
P oe was tired of barfing.
He was sick of being so tired. And he was really over the whole fudge-craving thing.
All of his friends and Cade were churning the stuff out like a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, and it still wasn’t enough to make him happy.
He really needed to broaden his horizons.
“Hello the house!”
The deep, booming tone of Cade’s father’s voice sounded, the grunt of a bocapal signaling that he’d just pulled up in a wagon.
Cade was out doing patrols, so Poe wandered to the door to greet him. “Bright blessings, Ganderyn.”
“And to you, Poe!” The big dragon stepped down from the wagon, which was piled with books, blankets, a large floor pillow of some sort, and… “My wife sends you tablet for your cravings.”
“Oh. Wow. That’s so sweet.” The tablet they made here in the village was a little…well, back in the human realm, he would call it goaty, but that was okay. It was still sweet and yummy and fudgey.
“Here. You take the sweets and I will unload. Where is Cade?”
“On patrol, sir.”
“Ah, yes. Of course. Well, I can handle it.”
“I can help.”
“Nothing heavy, lad. Promise me, or Cade will have my hide.”
Poe snorted. He wasn’t that far along. Seriously.
“I can get blankets, and you get books.”
“Perfect.” Ganderyn unloaded a full complement of books. “These are ones I bought at the bookshop for Cade. Oh, and Tanya. And I bought the two of you a history of Lunastra. Several volumes.” He chattered away as he made trips back and forth.
Poe tried to grab the huge pillow from the wagon but staggered under the sheer weirdness of its size and shape.
“Here now, no falling!” Ganderyn caught him as he bounced, setting him back upright.
“It’s big.”
“Cade was telling me a palaag cat will be coming soon. He will need a bed to sleep in, as they like their comforts once attached to a family. Or so I’ve read.”
“I love how learned you are, mate father.”
“Thank you, my boy!” Ganderyn beamed. “Now, tell me how you are feeling. My mate will grill me about every detail when we meet at evening meal tonight.”
Poe laughed. “Would you like tea?”
“I would.” The last of the wagon was unloaded now, and he led Ganderyn into the parlor, which was taking shape so nicely these days. It was comfortable, and thanks to help from Nan, it was clean. Not that he was a slob, but he was so damn tired.
And Cade? Was totally a slob. And Tanya was a kid.
“I like your seating. It is big enough for me.”
“It is. Cade wanted to be able to be comfortable, and Tanya can even fit on some of it as a dragon right now.”
“Where is my granddaughter?”
“She spent the night with Arielle.”
“Ah. She will have to come spend the rest days with us this week.”
“Oh, you don’t have to?—”
“My mate would be over the moon. She loves that little girl so already. We both do. She will take her to the village for cream ice.”
“Oh, I might come stay with you,” he teased.
“You are always welcome. Always.” Ganderyn searched his face. “You seem tired.”
He shook his head.
Then he nodded, suddenly so close to tears. “I have been. I’m so tired of throwing up, and I’m tired of eating fudge. I’m tired of it. I want something that’s… I don’t know. I don’t know what I want.”
“Ah, I understand this. I have a few suggestions if you’d like, that worked with my beloved mate, my Careidae.”
“Careidae?”
“Yes. It means beloved omega. A beloved alpha is Adareid.”
“That’s lovely.” Adareid. He would remember that for his Cade.
Ganderyn smiled at him. “Yes. Please, let me make the tea. I wonder perhaps if maybe we shouldn’t start exploring different foods that are local. Then maybe one of them might satisfy something inside you. You wouldn’t know to ask for it, after all, and it would nourish you. I know that the tablet is delicious, but a growing baby dragon needs food.”
“I just can’t figure out what to do. I don’t even know how to begin knowing.” Poe felt so overwhelmed, and Ganderyn was so kind, listening to him.
“How would you? It’s difficult enough when you are from a place. But this is an entire new world. You know, we will have to explore.” Ganderyn rested one hand over his. “All is well. I believe it is time for you to come to the village and meet your new world. Cadeyrn has friends, you know. Not many. He’s always been a serious dragon. But he has a core group of dragons that have been nervous to bother you while you’re mating and in the early stages of your pregnancy. I believe the villagers are scared. Everything is so very new, and the clutch up the mountain. They’re very insular.”
“Do you think so?” They sent the children to school, they did business there, but…well, he’d never seen any villagers but Cade up at the keep.
“I do, and that’s to be expected. They all come from the same place, but…” Ganderyn tilted his head. “I believe that you are going to bridge this gap between the up-mountain clutch and the village.”
Ganderyn smiled suddenly. “Would you like to come with me to the tavern and have a meal?”
The offer was unexpected, sweet, and absolutely dear. “I would. I would love that.”
“Excellent. I will introduce you to some dragons that I know. I will speak to my son as well about how easily loneliness can turn into unhappiness.”
Poe shook his head. “I’m not unhappy.”
“No, but you are lonely.” Ganderyn leaned forward as if telling a secret. “The other dragons are very curious to meet you. We’ll go have lunch together. Is Tanya all right there?”
“She is, and perhaps next time, I can take you up and you can meet everyone there. Brand and Devon have an amazing library. And so do Abraham and Brandon. You could research for days with them, and they would love it.”
Ganderyn’s eyes lit up. “Excellent. I will talk to my son. You let Tanya know that we’re going to lunch. I’ll have you back in time for supper.”
He hugged Ganderyn’s neck on impulse. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“You are most welcome, my son’s mate. Come. We will go and have an outing!” His father-in-law held out an arm, and Poe sent a quick mental shout to Tanya not to come home until he called for her. He did not want her home alone, not with the warning still in his head about someone coming to steal children.
Nan would probably protect her, but what if Nan wasn’t there for a moment? She was a house spirit, after all. She probably had other things to do.
They headed into town, and by the time they got to the outskirts, Poe could see dragons bringing in the last of the harvests. The fields were all fallow now, little animals that he didn’t recognize gathering grasses and such for food or dens or nests. It was noticeably warmer down here than it was up on the mountain, but still, there were snows coming. Poe could smell it in the air.
They dropped the cart off along with the bocapal at the edge of town and then they walked together into the village. Poe had seen most of these shops, and he’d even been in one or two, but Ganderyn moved more slowly and with much less determination than Cade did, so Poe could window shop.
The village was active, with children playing some ball game in the alleys, and a group of elder dragons arguing over different teas as they sat together on a wide porch, dice clattering as they chatted.
Overhead, he counted ten dragons in flight, the sight still stealing his breath.
There was a candy shop with jars filled with amazing-looking sugary treats in every color of the rainbow. One shop was filled with flowers and another with toys and puzzles. There was a bookstore and a butcher’s, a fruit monger’s and a store that was mainly a huge loom, the fabric made as he watched.
The one that fascinated him was filled with wood that smelled amazing and the neatest clocks inside. The clocks here had ten numbers instead of twelve. Wild but wonderful.
“I think I would like to trade for one of those clocks to put in the house. One with the bird that sings, maybe? Do you think Cade has one like that in his hoard?”
“I have no idea,” Ganderyn said. “But together, you should choose one. It would please him very much.”
“Have you seen his workshop? It’s lovely. It’s amazing how the dragon with such large hands can do such tiny work on clocks.” Poe had a big fat grandfather clock for their living area. Cosmo was arranging it. It was going to be the best Christmas present ever.
“Ganderyn, bright blessings!” A bright blue dragon with amber spots covering him nodded to them. “I am called Tyr.”
“Hello, Tyr. I’m Poe, Cadeyrn’s…”
Yellow eyes flared and Tyr glanced at Ganderyn. “Is this Cadeyrn’s mate from up-mountain?”
“It is. Poe, Tyr here is a school friend of my son’s. He is the master of the bees.”
His eyes went wide. “Oh wow, a beekeeper. That’s wonderful. Honey is amazing.”
Tyr was so blue, fascinating, like the sky. “So glad to meet you.”
“We are going to have lunch at the Two Wings, would you like to join us?” Ganderyn offered, and Tyr bowed.
“I would. It would be an honor. I’m curious to know the dragons from up-mountain; we all are.”
“Well then, please join us.” He was going to have to be an ambassador, which was laughable. They hadn’t picked the most perfect dragon for the job, but what else was he going to do? He had family all over, and he supposed it was time to bring them together.
Ganderyn seemed to know everyone, absolutely every single dragon, and by the time that they got to the good-sized tavern with its wooden sign that was just a pair of huge dragon wings, there was a crowd of ten dragons, and they were all coming to lunch. He hoped that the restaurant was ready for them.
They opened the door and walked into a large open space with rows of heavy wooden tables and benches set up and ready to welcome guests. The hearth at one end of the space was blazing, the mantel covered in candles. A portrait of a huge golden dragon took pride of place over the fire. The bar was back there, dark and quiet now.
A buxom woman with dozens of thick braids and eyes like black buttons greeted them as they entered, her voice booming out. “Welcome, welcome. Please come in, find a seat. Today, we have meat and vegetable pie. We have a stew, and we have roast. And there are fruit pies. Four different kinds for dessert.”
Poe’s stomach rumbled loud enough that everyone heard, and he chuckled, his cheeks heated. “Sorry, guys, I’m pregnant, and this baby doesn’t know what it wants.”
“We will try a little of all of it!” Ganderyn announced. “For poor Poe has been eating nothing but tablet for weeks!”
There was a chorus of groans and commiseration. “We will find you something else,” said a dragon named Minela, who seemed like maybe she was an omega and could totally relate to him.
“Thank you. It’s starting to get to me.”
Tyr sat next to him, a toothy grin on his face. “We will care for you well.”
“You are all very kind.”
“I am not.” A grumpy-looking dragon raised his goblet at Poe. “I’m just incurably curious.”
He laughed, clapping lightly. “I like you. You remind me of Zeke.”
“Ah, from up the mountain. I have met him once.”
“He’s a good dragon,” Poe said. “But he can be pretty dour when he wants to be.”
“Can’t we all?” Mr. Grumpy said with a rough little chuckle, and he smiled over.
“I’m Poe, by the way.”
“Harden. Pleased.”
Another dragon met his eyes. “So did you really just come across the veil?”
Poe nodded. “I really did. I was attacked by vampires, and Tanya, the child who came over with me, she freed me. And when we got out? We were rescued by a pair of dragons. They brought us to the portal house, and we came over. It took us a while. It’s a little scary to leave everything behind, but it was worth it.” In fact, he didn’t regret it for a second.
“Is it different here?” Harden asked, and Poe’s eyes went wide.
“Yes. It’s amazing. I never thought I’d see a world where dragons could fly at will and not worry about being seen.” It was never going to cease to amaze him. “I haven’t learned near enough about everything here, but I’m eager to learn.”
Ganderyn nodded, smiling at him. “Harden here is a bwostfal-meist, a…beastmaster? Poe was one in the other realm.”
“Interesting.” Harden tilted his head. “Were you now? I would be happy to answer any questions, should you have them.”
“Questions?” His eyes went wide. “I want to know everything. Cade introduced me to his pair of ysdri; they’re amazing.”
Poe felt himself kind of light up inside. He did love horses. He was a cowboy, or had been two hundred years ago. “I didn’t have any idea that it was going to be so fascinating. I mean, I didn’t even have any idea that this was real, that there was an actual place here. But it’s amazing. And I sound like an idiot.”
That cracked everybody up. The entire tavern seemed to laugh with him.
“There are many different kinds of mounts here from tiny to huge.”
Tyr nodded. “Cadeyrn has much to show you.”
“I want to learn about them all.”
“Of cour?—”
The tavern door opened, and the room went suddenly, immediately silent. Everyone stared for a moment, then stood. So Poe stood as well.
The tiniest dragon walked in, her scales pale pink, iridescent, almost see-through. Her whiskers were long, and her eyes, when they landed on him, felt like they had so much weight.
“Brenon.” Ganderyn bowed deeply.
“Ganderyn.” She raised a hand, her claws sharp and not at all pink. “Bright blessings.”
“And to you. Will you join us?”
The lady dragon squinted at him, and Poe tried not to duck behind his father-in-law. “I will.”
There was a mad scramble as a bunch of dragons rearranged themselves and a comfortably pillowed chair appeared. The lady ended up seated between Poe and Ganderyn.
“I am Galial. The Brenon. You must be Poe.”
“Er. Um. Yes, ma’am. I have no idea what a brenon is.”
She cackled like a giant black bird, smoke rising from her nose. “It means I am very, very old and set in my ways, and everyone is afraid of me.” She waved a hand. “But you and I are going to be friends.”
“Excellent. I love to make friends, and I’m new, so I don’t have the good sense to be worried.” Not to mention he was friendly and not particularly scared of old people. So it worked out.
She clapped, obviously amused. “Wonderful. I have known your mate his entire life. In fact, I was still training midwives then. Do you remember, Ganderyn?”
“I do, Brenon,” Cade’s father smiled at them, obviously pleased.
“I hear you have a child that came with you.”
Poe nodded. “I have a daughter, Tanya, and then another on the way.” He touched his belly. It still stunned him a little bit that he was having Cade’s baby.
“Will your daughter be joining the school with the other children?”
He nodded in answer to his question. “Oh, she absolutely will. I haven’t had her start yet because it’s so much change, so fast, and she was timid at the beginning. But she’s eager to make more friends.”
He’d just needed to know that she wasn’t scared, and that she could hold her own.
His little firebug could hold her own.
And she was kind of in between the ages of most of the dragon children, a little too young to be Arielle and Nevvy’s age, and a little too old to be any of the other’s contemporary. School would be good for her.
The food began to arrive—platters and bowls of roasted meats and vegetables, of stews and crusty bread that made his mouth water.
“Look at this bounty. How amazing.”
Ganderyn nodded to him. “We’ll see if there’s anything that you like that satisfies the hunger inside of you.”
“Is that what we’re doing?” Tyr asked, and Ganderyn nodded.
“Yes. Poe has been having trouble finding a food that works for him. It occurred to me that he didn’t know what he craved. And so, this would be the easiest way to start exploring until he found that thing that his body was desiring.”
“Smart. Very smart,” Galial agreed. “What has worked so far?”
“What you call tablet or fudge? It tastes so good, but it doesn’t always stay down, and it’s starting to lose its…fascination. So hopefully there’s something here that would be better.”
“Hmmm.” Her claws tapped on the table. “Yes. I can see why that would depress your spirits. Well, we shall start with small quantities of anything that smells good to you.”
Poe blinked hard. They were all being so kind to him. It was so sweet, and the whole unreal situation here made him tear up. Again.
Poe? Are you well? Cade’s mental voice was like a shout.
He winced. I am fine, love. Your father took me to the tavern for lunch.
Ah. Then why do you cry?
Because everyone is being so nice. He sniffled.
Then why does that make you weep? Do I need to come get you?
I think that might offend Galial.
Galial is there?
Uh-huh.
In fact, she tapped his arm. “You tell your mate to do his work and leave you to us.”
“Yes, Brenon.” He chuckled, sending the message to Cade, whose mental laughter caressed him. “I told him.”
“Good, good. Now, try this bread.” She broke off a piece of a focaccia-looking kind of bread, but it had a creamier, more buttery texture.
Poe waited for his stomach to rebel as he chewed the bite, but it didn’t. “Oh. Yum.”
“Yes. Yes, I thought so.” She waved a hand, though it also looked like a paw, and more bread was brought over. “Now, how about stew?”
His stomach rumbled, but this time in a bad way when she put a bowl in front of him. “I don’t want to insult.”
“No, no!” Ganderyn took it away, putting another bowl in front of him. “This is a root vegetable soup. Try it. It is creamy and almost sweet, yes, Brenon?”
“Indeed.” The old lady cackled again, and he took a cautious sip, finding it sat well and tasted good.
“Oh. This is lovely.” His whole body urged him to take another spoonful, then another. So he did. And soon the whole bowl was gone, and so was the bread.
Cade! I ate food that wasn’t fudge!
I am so glad. I am coming down now to join you if that is acceptable.
It is! We’ll have desserts soon!
“Thank you,” he told the assembled dragons at their table. “So much.”
They had been so kind to him, and now it would be his turn.
It was time to get the clutch up on the mountain integrated like the village wanted them to be.