Chapter 12 #2
“French toast, again, it is.” Talon was off, and he took a moment to sit and breathe.
“Hello.” A very nervous, young-looking omega came up to him with a tray in his hands. “Would it be all right if I sat with you?”
“Of course.” Mercury didn’t mention Talon was coming back because he didn’t want the young dragon to be worried about taking up space or bothering them. He looked like he was very out of place and feeling nervous. Mercury understood that very well.
“Thank you.” The omega sat, smiling at him. “My name is Nayel.”
“Mine is Mercury. It’s very nice to meet you, Nayel.”
“Thank you for letting me sit with you. I just arrived here last week, and I’m very discombobulated still.”
Mercury raised an eyebrow. “Were you rescued from another keep?”
“No. I escaped. I came here on my own.”
Ah, that explained why young Nayel did not have a group of friends already. If he had been rescued by one of the big alphas, he would have been given protection and introduced around.
He put his elbows on the table and stared at Nayel. “Where did you come from, if that’s not too invasive?”
Nayel beamed at him. “It’s not invasive at all. I appreciate you asking. From far south on the eastern coast.”
“I come from far in the north on the eastern coast. It’s cold there all the time.”
“Oh, that does not sound fun. I find it very cold here.” Nayel kept grinning at him, “But at least it’s not terribly humid.”
“I imagine it is very humid where you come from, if it’s hot most of the time.”
Talon came trundling back over, raising an eyebrow when he saw Mercury sitting with Nayel. “I ordered your cinnamon roll, hailee. They are making you a complement of things that can be eaten with syrup to see which ones you like best.”
Nayel’s scales rattled with embarrassment, and he turned a bright pink color, almost like a squid dumping ink. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize you were already sitting with someone. Let me leave you.”
“Not at all. You’re welcome to sit with us, isn’t he, braaken?”
“Of course,” Talon smiled, and for him it was quite a gentle expression.
“Was there something you wanted above all other things? I see that you only got what was on the hot line tonight. They can make special things, you know? Unless it’s fish.
You can’t eat fish if you’re going to sit with my mate. It will make him ill.”
“Oh no, this is fine. I wouldn’t want to be any trouble to anyone.”
“Nayel just arrived last week,” Mercury told Talon. “He got here on his own recognizance.”
Talon’s other eyebrow flew up to meet the first one. “Did you? The blacksmith’s mate, Pye, did the same thing. I’m very impressed. It’s not an easy place to find.”
Nayel decked his head, his flush intensifying. “It was difficult, but it was worth it. I needed to get away from my keep.”
“Well, we are very glad you are here,” Talon said. “Perhaps I can get you something for dessert when I get more food.” Talon sat down next to Mercury, trying to make sure he didn’t intimidate Nayel, Mercury thought. His mate was so kind and wonderful.
Several more dragons stopped by to give congratulations, along with a couple of the shifters who worked in the lower regions of the keep, but who obviously knew Talon well. They had walked away, Nayel looked at him with a sweet smile on his face. “You are pregnant. Congratulations.”
“I am. I just found out today.” He leaned in and offered Nayel a smile. “It’s a little overwhelming. I mean, I’m new here, and all of a sudden I’ve got a braaken, and a baby coming, a home.”
“That’s how I feel. All of the sudden, everything is new, and I’m scared that I’ll mess up. Lose my job? Something.”
Mercury was careful to answer because he still didn’t have a job. He knew it was going to involve Kami and Talon in some way, if for no other reason because Kami wished it to be so and Kami was impossible to say no to, sort of like Jack. But he didn’t have one yet. “What do you do here?”
“I’m an IT guy. I help with the computers. It’s really fun, and I like the people I work with. I really feel like what we do is important, keeping everything up and running; it’s nice.”
He nodded and wanted to ask if they could get together or if he could meet Naylan’s workmates. Talon knew everybody, but he didn’t know anybody who was new. This would be a person he could meet who Talon didn’t know already.
What’s wrong, hailee? I can feel your nervousness.
Well, I want to ask him if we can be friends and do something, but I don’t know how.
Why don’t you try? “Hey, would you like to go to the arcade?”
There’s an arcade?
Yes, down inside the mountain. It’s a good place. There’s one for the children and there’s one for grown-ups with all sorts of games. It’s very casual, just like a community room. But with beer and nachos.
Okay. “Nayel, I don’t suppose that at some point you’d like to go down to the arcade? I’ve never been.”
Nayel’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I’d love to. I’d love to just explore if you feel up to it.”
“Yes? I’d like that too.”
Did I do all right?
You did fine, hailee, just fine.
Oh good. I didn’t know whether I was doing it right or not.
You’re doing amazing, my love.
Nayel was chattering away, talking about how he would love to go play games. He liked games because he was an IT guy, and they were fascinating to play for him because he knew how they were written, and it was really funny. He was so cute.
Cute and it felt amazing. He hadn’t had a friend in so long he didn’t even know the name of the last one he’d made, but he did remember the name of the one he was making now.
Talon stole a bite of his French toast, and he swatted his braaken’s hand. “Be nice.”
I am being very nice, hailee.
Mercury leaned into Talon’s side. “Are you busy tomorrow after work? We could go then.”
“Sounds great. Can I get your number?”
He awkwardly pulled out the phone that Talon had given him. “Sure. Uh… I’m not sure what to do.”
“Here, let me show you.” Nayel grabbed his phone and helped him open it from the front screen, Using his face. Then, he helped him find contacts and add Nayel’s number.
“There you go. Anytime you want to text me or call me, you just go there and find my name. Try it now. Why don’t you text me? Then I’ll have your number on my phone, and I can make you into a contact too.”
He chewed on his lower lip, nodding. He didn’t want to seem like an idiot, so he was going to try it. He managed it with just a little bit of shaking because technology was not something he had ever dealt with in his keep.
Nayel didn’t seem to be impatient with them, and neither did Talon, so he did it.
“There you go.” Nayel showed Mercury his phone, a number popping up, his name right there. “Now I can call you when I get off work tomorrow, I’ll text, and we can meet. Go play some games. Cool?”
“Yeah, yes, it’s absolutely cool.” He remembered he’d been the one who invited Nayel to sit. Nayel had been the one who had seemed scared, so he must be fine.
He wanted more food, so they got another order, and he shoveled it in when it came, the cinnamon and icing perfect.
Talon was grinning at him, letting him know that it was okay to just sit and eat. He loved his braaken for that. Talon never made him feel awkward or strange.
He was so happy that the food settled in his belly too because he wasn’t used to having things simply not sit right. Of course, he’d only been pregnant for one day. At least, that he knew of. So, he wasn’t supposed to be used to it yet.
“Your braaken seems very nice,” Nayel said. “Where did you meet him?”
Mercury grinned and licked the icing off his lips. “He rescued me.”
“Oh, wow, that’s exciting.”
Was it? He thought it probably was. “I think so too! I’m sorry that you had to find your way here by yourself. Although it is that you did do that, because that means you’re smart and resourceful.”
“It is exciting. A little scary, I think, because I worry. What if I don’t find a braaken of my own?”
Oh, that was an awful fear. Mercury felt for Nayel, down to his bones. “You will. Not only that, everyone doesn’t have to have a braaken or a hailee. People can just have each other.”
“This is true.” Talon nodded. “My brother had a lover for a very long time, and it was just the two of them, and then they found their hailee together. But for a good amount of time they were just the two of them, and they were very happy.”
Nylel stared at Talon, but eventually he nodded. “So, I suppose I should wait and see what the goddess has planned for me.”
Mercury bobbed his head. “You should totally see what fate has in store for you. I was just very lucky. I think that my braaken knew to come for me. I didn’t want to go at first; he had to convince me. I was scared to leave.”
Nayel pinked and crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh, I was ready to leave when it was time for me to go. I was very prepared to run. I was worried I was going to be given to someone I didn’t want to be with, and that would have been absolutely no fun for either one of us.”
Oh, he hoped he hadn’t offended his new friend… “They say some matches are made by third parties and are good even if you don’t know the other dragon, but some are not. I think regardless of whether you didn’t want the match, it was a good thing you left.”
Talon cleared his throat. “Yes, and there are many braaken here looking for hailees to be in love with. So, I would not worry about not having any choices.”
Nayel looked so grateful at that, and Mercury had to bite back a chuckle. He could just imagine Nayel being a gift for a very lonely braaken.
In fact, he would say a little prayer to the gods right now in hopes that it helped Nayel achieve just that.
Nayel smiled at Talon. “I hope that you’re right. I would very much like to fall in love. I think it sounds like a great adventure.”
Mercury caught himself nodding because Nyall was right. It was a grand adventure.
Scary, sure. A lot of this had been scary, and he had the feeling that being pregnant was going to be more scary still.
But falling in love had been a grand adventure.
His adventure.