Chapter 43 #2
Bálint nodded. “I always wondered about that when he said he had a stomach bug.”
There was a long pause as everyone became lost in thought.
“It’s hard when you feel you don’t belong.” Adaline’s voice was soft and haunting.
“What do you mean?” Bálint asked.
Alice’s hand found Adaline’s immediately, and she laced her fingers with her cousin’s in fierce comfort. “You do belong.”
Adaline’s smile wavered. “I know that—now. Thanks to this journey. But sometimes, even when people say it, it’s hard to feel it in your bones.”
She drew in a breath. “I look around this room, and all I see are powerhouses. Zohar and Roam are fearless. They dive into danger like it’s a swimming pool.
Bálint always wins—every survival test, every mission.
Amber and Jade? Geniuses. You build things no one even imagines.
Spring has her stealth and her bond with the earth.
Alice, you could reshape reality if you wanted to. ”
She looked at Phoenix.
“And Phoenix? You literally open portals to other worlds. That kind of magic… it’s awe-inspiring.”
They stared at her like she’d grown a second head.
Zohar frowned. “Adaline… you’re just as powerful as Alice.”
Adaline nodded. “Yes. I know. But that’s the point. Knowing it is everything. That’s what Jabir doesn’t have.”
She looked around the circle, her voice trembling slightly.
“He doesn’t know what he’s worth. Not really.
He doesn’t see that his kindness is a strength.
That his loyalty is fierce. That his laughter is our glue.
He thinks because he’s not the loudest, or the fastest, or the most powerful, that he’s somehow less. ”
A heavy silence filled the room.
Phoenix swallowed. “He’s not less.”
“No,” Spring echoed. “He’s more. He just doesn’t see it.”
Bálint stared down at his hands, feeling the weight of his carelessness like a yoke around his neck.
How many times was his laughter a bit mean when Jabir made a joke instead of landing a hit in combat class?
How often had he rolled his eyes when Jabir forgot gear during a training mission but remembered the exact calibration settings of a phased plasma cannon?
He hadn’t meant to dismiss him.
But he had.
And now…
He clenched his jaw.
“No more,” Bálint said, his voice steady, rising. “Jabir has a gift none of us have.”
He looked around the room, his eyes blazing with determination. “He makes us better. Every one of us. He reminds us to laugh. To notice things. To feel. He reminds us who we should be—empathetic, compassionate leaders.”
Zohar stood slowly, his muscles tense. "How should we show him how much we value his presence?”
Bálint stepped forward, lifting his chin. “We have to make him see what we see. We remind him that he belongs with us. That we’re not the same without him.” He let that truth settle into their bones. “Because we’re not just friends.”
“Because we’re dragonlings,” Phoenix said, a soft smile curving her lips. “And dragonlings stick together.”
“No matter what,” Roam rumbled low in agreement.
Amber and Jade grinned in perfect synchronicity, staring at each other with bright, shining eyes before they reached and hugged each other, giggling when the demented symbiot squirmed between them in protest.
Alice wiped a tear from her cheek and nodded fiercely. “You’re damn right. We’re dragonlings, and we stick together.”
Adaline straightened, her shoulders squared with quiet pride. “Forever.”
“Forever,” the group repeated in a chorus of voices.
The wind brushed across Jabir’s wings, soft and warm as it filtered through the tall trees below.
He flew low, skimming above the canopy, the forest unfolding beneath him in deep greens and amber-touched gold.
Somewhere in the distance, birds called out in lazy harmony, the world below waking to another sun-drenched day.
Then—movement.
A flicker of orange and blue flame.
A tiny campfire crackled in a clearing not far off the main trail. The smoke spiraled upward in lazy coils. Around it sat three familiar shapes: Gabby, Mikey, and Williston, their troll forms unmistakable even from this height.
A moment later, Mikey looked up, his face lighting with joy. He pointed skyward.
“Jabir!”
Even at this distance, Jabir could hear the excitement in his voice.
His dragon grumbled a warm chuckle as Mikey rubbed his round belly like a good-luck charm. Bet he thinks we’re bringing snacks, Jabir muttered fondly, then tipped his wings, gliding downward in a lazy spiral.
At the last second, he shifted mid-air, landing in the clearing with a soft thud and a burst of displaced leaves.
“Jabir!” Gabby called with a grin, standing with a wave.
“’Bout time you dropped in!” Williston added, his toothy smile bright behind a new pair of spectacles.
Before Jabir could answer, Mikey barreled toward him with surprising speed and enthusiasm.
“Whoa—!” was all Jabir managed before two thick arms wrapped around him like steel cables, lifting him off his feet.
His dragon gave a startled huff. Mikey pops us like a sausage if he not careful.
Jabir groaned playfully. “Mikey, I need ribs to fly, you know!”
Mikey laughed, then slapped him on the shoulder with the force of a small landslide. Jabir stumbled forward three steps before catching himself.
“Still the same strength as a troll herd,” he muttered, rubbing his arm.
Mikey beamed. “We missed you!”
Gabby plopped down on a mossy log, gesturing to the baskets beside her. “The village is really different now. You should see it. They’re moving half the huts away from the lake.”
Jabir’s brow furrowed as he sat. “Is everything okay?”
“Better than okay,” Williston said, settling beside Gabby. “The sirens and villagers are actually working together now. Ever since the dam came down, the lake’s full again.”
Mikey pointed proudly to a woven basket overflowing with fish and clams. “We traded some pretty pebbles to the sirens for this! They liked the blue ones best. I like the sirens. They’re funny. And real pretty.”
Gabby snorted. “Especially the part about pretty,” she teased, elbowing Mikey.
Mikey turned pink from chin to ears, trying not to smile.
Williston leaned in conspiratorially. “He’s been trying to hum when they’re around. Sounds like a grumpy goose.”
That earned a round of laughter. Even Jabir joined in, the sound bubbling out of him before he could stop it.
It felt… good.
Easy.
“Did Empress Nali help you find your friends?” Gabby asked after a moment.
Jabir nodded. “Yeah. They’re at the palace now. Safe. Probably causing trouble.”
Williston’s hand came to rest gently on Jabir’s shoulder. “You’re lucky, you know. To have friends who come looking when you’re lost.”
Gabby glanced sideways and nudged Williston’s elbow. “Like someone else I know.”
Mikey perked up. “Oh! Williston got lost on the way back from the lake last week.”
Williston groaned. “Mikey…”
“He was real scared until Gabby found him,” Mikey continued.
Jabir blinked and looked more closely. “Wait… are you wearing glasses now?”
Williston sighed but grinned. “Yeah. Turns out everything was blurry. I just thought everyone looked fuzzy. I was bumping into stuff all the time, and they thought I was just clumsy.”
“If he hadn’t gotten lost,” Gabby said, “he might never have told us. We’d still think he was part earthquake.”
Mikey leaned in earnestly. “I think you look smart. And handsome!”
Williston’s grin stretched wide. “Careful,” he said. “You’ll give me a big head.”
Gabby snorted. “Too late.”
They all laughed again, the sound echoing gently in the clearing.
Jabir watched them tease, bicker, and smile like they’d known each other forever.
Something tugged in his chest.
A warm ache.
The kind he felt when he was watching a moment that mattered—something small, yet strangely sacred. Similar to when one of the rescue animals had a new litter. He lifted a hand and rubbed absently at his sternum. That hollow ache pressed a little deeper.
They’re just like us, he thought. Me and Bálint. Roam. Zohar. Phoenix. The girls. All of them.
They bickered. Teased. Ate too much. Cared too hard.
But they were his family.
And he missed them.
Deeply.
Jabir stayed a little longer, trading stories and listening to Mikey’s surprisingly detailed rundown of ‘all the kinds of pebbles that make good skipping stones.’ But eventually, the moment came.
He stood.
The trolls rose too.
“I never said it before,” Jabir said, his voice thick with emotion. “But thank you. For taking me in. For helping me when I had no idea where I was.”
Gabby gave a soft smile. “We liked having you here.”
Williston adjusted his glasses and nodded. “You’ll always have a place with us.”
Mikey gave him another enthusiastic hug—gentler this time—and whispered, “Come back and visit, okay?”
Jabir managed a smile. “I will.”
Then he stepped back, shifted smoothly into his dragon form, and launched into the sky.
The wind swept past his wings, clean and strong. The clearing below shrank until the trolls looked like tiny toy figures gathered around a glowing ember of fire.
He rose higher.
The lake shimmered to his right, the Manticore village newly bustling along its edges. Jewel would be down there somewhere.
His heart ached again.
Just one more look?
He hovered, his wings stilling in the air.
But then—he remembered her face that last night they were together. The soft sadness in her eyes. The way she hadn’t tried to stop him from going. The way she’d let him go… with love.
Dragging it out now wouldn’t make it better.
It would only make it hurt more.
His dragon rumbled quietly, deep in his chest. She say her goodbye, and so did we.
Jabir closed his eyes against the sting and nodded.
Yeah, he whispered. Let’s go home.
And with one last look toward the lake below, he turned toward the mountains and flew hard and fast—toward the palace.
Toward his family.
Toward the part of himself he almost forgot.