Chapter Nine
Cooking for sixteen people takes time and effort, and in the case of that meal it also meant a lot of heavy stirring.
But it was my turn on the rota, and I enjoyed cooking, a skill I’d discovered when I married.
Also, I knew Rider Klah was to cook for the next shift, and they weren’t a great cook, so I made enough for the full fortress complement of twenty-two.
All Klah would have to do was cook some rice and heat the leftovers.
Even he could manage that. Though the pan might need the rice unwelded from it in the washing up after.
Dinner was a raucous affair, not least of all because it was Fin’s eleventh birthday.
Decorations were made from the newssheets we got, always late, with the various deliveries.
Messengers rarely came with one paper or one letter.
They were saved up and delivered once every three to five weeks.
Or one of us would pick them up if we had to visit Ashland Harbour for some reason.
So we had pinned up printed bunting, paper chains, and put on silly hats. Except Shi, he wasn’t a hat wearer, and certainly not a silly one. All of it would stay in place for the nine days until the Saturnine Celebration. Except the hats of course, but we would keep those ready too.
“Mm-mm,” Fenwick leaned back in his chair and patted his stomach. “That was luscious. Just how do you make a vegetable chilli taste so meaty?”
We’d not had our supplies in again and were keeping the slaughtering of another pig until Saturnine. So I had had to make do. “I saved the juices after that last side of beef was roasted and used them today.”
“Meat juice in a vegetarian chilli?” Jimny asked. “Sir?”
I grinned at him. “Only because no one here is an actual vegetarian. If I’d cooked like this at home, Sasha would have killed me. She was vegetarian.”
“Was she?” Fin asked. As it was his birthday, Shi had sat him at the head of the table and taken his seat beside me.
I looked at Fin and smiled. “Yes, she was. Never ate meat. Even before I met her. That was why I had to learn to cook, so she wasn’t the only one who could.”
I felt the hand under the table move to my thigh. The squeeze a small and unseen offer of support.
“That explains why you have all the best recipes,” the quartermaster said as he collected everyone’s empty plates.
A moment later, much to the delight of the assembled Riders, he came back with a single layer cake bearing one large candle.
A chorus of off-tune, vaguely baritone, traditional and ancient happy birthdays sung out as the cake was placed before Fin, his grin so wide it threatened to split his young face.
“Wish. Wish. Wish. Wish. Wish.” The chant had him laughing and screwing up his face to make the wish before he blew out the candle. There were applause and cheers, then we cut and enjoyed the cake. The buttercream was wonderful.
“Hey, if I’d known we had butter,” I said. “I could have made a richer dinner.”
“We don’t have butter now,” the quartermaster laughed.
After the cake came the presents. Gifts were small and personalised, mostly made here on the island.
I glanced around. I had spent a lot of years wishing I could get reposted out of here, to somewhere warmer for my hands, somewhere drier for my feet, and somewhere Fin could mix with more kids his age.
But that had tapered off lately. I’m not sure when it happened, after that chat with Fenwick probably, but I’d started to see that Fin and I had found a family here.
A place I finally felt I belonged. I smiled and glanced at Shi beside me.
Shi with the inscrutability and unlined face.
He might be older than me, but I was the one showing the first grey hairs.
I looked away from him and around the room, at the grins and joy and laughter.
There’s nothing quite like the enthusiasm of a child to make a bunch of grown men revert to being kids themselves. Especially when the kid was one they’d come to think of as theirs over the last six years. As I —
My smile slipped and I sat back. How strange. I’d spent the last few years grinding my teeth and wanting out of this gods-forsaken fortress, and suddenly I realised that it had become home. How did that happen? When?
“Dad?” Fin’s call drew my attention to him. “Are you all right?”
“I’m good.” I smiled and reached out to ruffle his hair. “Just realised that we’ve spent more of your life here than in Pasaocea. And wondering at what point Unkea became home.”
Fin shrugged. “Feels like it was always home to me. Should I do the washing up?”
“No!” That word got chorused.
“Not on your birthday, son,” I smiled. “No chores for you tonight. Go see Dora, she’s getting grumpy with me for keeping you up here all evening.”
“Thanks. I’ll show her all this.”
Fin was never one to miss out on seeing dragons, so he scooped up his haul of presents and ran.
That marked the breakup of the party. When I moved to clean up, it was Jimny who stopped me.
“I’m on cleaning duty tonight.”
I knew the rota, and he wasn’t.
“I’ll give him a hand,” Fenwick said before I could argue. Then he turned me around and pushed me toward the door. “Go, so I can spend time with my boyfriend.”
That made me laugh, and I wandered out, headed back to my rooms. I’d go down to get Fin in a while, but I wanted to let him have some time where he was most at home himself. What surprised me was that a few minutes after I got to my rooms, there was a knock at the door.
I pulled the door open, surprised to see Flight Captain Ang Shi standing there.
“Flight Captain?” My surprise sounded obvious to my own ears. “I’m not shirking my duties, sir. Jimny—”
I stopped at the raise of his hand. “I’m not here on official business.”
That was odd. He was always all business. I stepped aside for him to come in. He took the necessary two steps and I closed the door. Not that it guaranteed privacy, there were no locks, after all. I moved in, to better be able to face him.
“What can I do for you, sir?”
His lips parted as if he would speak, except he didn’t. Instead his hand raised and he held out a wrapped item to me.
“A gift for Fin?” Why hadn’t he given it to Fin himself.
“No.” That was uncharacteristically sharp. He pressed his lips together and pushed the bundle closer towards me. “Home … welcome … It’s for you.”
I took the bundle. Its weight was a surprise, and I instantly knew what it was. Confused, I looked up to Ang Shi, but he’d already turned on his heel and was out of the door.
This didn’t make sense.
But it was a gift and I was keen to see it, so I pushed back the material.
I couldn’t believe my eyes as I looked at the knife in my hand.
It was gorgeous. The handle was white. It took me a second to realise what it was.
A dragon scale. Since the only white dragon here was Shi’s own, Lord Aurexian, he could be the only source.
The steel blade was damascus, a rippled pattern of silver and black steels forged together in a squared blade.
Both edges were sharpened to perfection, and the triangular tip looked ready to slip through skin like a scalpel.
The handle fit perfectly in my hand. The weight was well-balanced, with a through tang topped with a ball of granite.
Staring at the piece didn’t make it make any more sense.
Nothing in this blade was easily crafted.
Given the unreliability of supplies, the island was, as much as it could be, self-sufficient, so we all spent time doing lots of different things, including making weapons when necessary.
Shi was a master of the craft. Every part of this blade proved it.
Damascus creation took time and effort. Dragon scales were notorious for breaking when made into a handle, even with the agreement of the dragon.
Try using a dragon scale when the dragon didn’t agree and it would break to uselessness.
And shaping granite was never easy. Yet, Ang Shi had done it. For me.
Why?
He was the fortress commander. I saw him every day.
He was always around. He had a critical eye, and I often realised I was less than perfect just from the way he looked at me.
It made me do better. I thought about earlier; speaking of Sasha hadn’t upset me this time, she was just a warm memory.
Also warm was the hand under the table that offered me that unseen, silent support.
I considered the way my own gaze tended to linger on Shi.
Oh no.
* * *
Of course I thanked Flight Captain Ang Shi for the dagger.
And Lord Aurexian Valemont the Third. Unusually, Lord Aurexian was more open to the thanks than Ang Shi.
Though perhaps I was a little less awkward with the dragon than with the man.
I tried to tell myself my fears were just my fears, not reality.
There was no actual threat. It took me way too long to get over that one stupid thought, and that was all it was. Shi being thoughtful.
It was odd over that year to watch Fin. He started to really grow, and his voice broke.
It would go from high-pitched to low and back again, sometimes in the course of a single sentence.
No one commented or made him self-conscious about it.
But it was just the first sign of the man he was growing into. A son I was very proud of already.
He continued to work with Ang Shi and Fenwick. He studied, learned practical skills, cleaning, ironing, woodwork, metalwork, leatherwork. His needlework was rough but serviceable, which was good enough for a Rider. At least he could sew a button on, which was more than some of the men could.
Staff rotations came and went, though a core of us stayed. I appreciated what Fin and I had found, but there was still a part of me that wanted to be reposted elsewhere, to actually feel the sun again, to dry my feet out. To not feel punished for telling the truth.
One of our newer staff members, Rider Cadawg Dean, came in and got sick.
I think he brought whatever the illness was with him, as none of the others got sick.
I did what I could, but this was so far beyond anything I knew, I really wasn’t that effective.
Almost all I could do was keep him hydrated and comfortable until the healer came in.
The healer cured him. Allegedly. Three days after the healer left, Dean passed out on the back of his dragon, Tiago, during a patrol and fell into the Kimi Sea. His body was never recovered so we never really knew what had happened.
Tiago came home to grieve. Fin worked hard with him to help with the recovery process. Dragons lived many lifetimes longer than humans, so it was common for a dragon to lose a rider and go through the grieving process.
I also knew Dora and Aurexian clucked over Tiago like watchful parents. Or maybe Dora was more concerned with Fin, it was hard to tell, but I was assured that all three were helping.
As Tiago was the only unbonded dragon who had ever been in the nests, I think, despite entreaties to the contrary, Fin got his hopes up for bonding young. It was an extremely rare occurrence for anyone under the age of eighteen to bond, but it had been known.
Then Sky Commander Zemich turned up on one of his regular inspection visits. Generally he’d sneer the entire time.
“What is this beast doing here?” he demanded, pointing to Tiago.
I was in the nests at that point, taking care of Dora after a fight out where strong winds had played havoc with our plans and she had pulled a shoulder muscle.
“Grieving,” Fenwick said. “Tiago was bonded with—”
“Get it out of here,” Zemich commanded.
We all reacted, and I had to pull Fin back from responding.
“We have few enough resources, we cannot squander them on dragons that are not useful.”
“Maybe he will be,” Fin shouted before I could stop him. “Once he’s had a little time.”
Zemich turned slowly to face us, and the air turned a degree or two colder.
Whether that was Tiago or just dread, I don’t know.
Zemich looked us both up and down. His lip curled.
“The blasphemer and son.” He turned back to Fenwick.
“Have the boy whipped for his insolence and kick the useless white out.”
No one was happy about that. Tiago stayed another day.
We tried to persuade him to remain longer, but he said he didn’t want to be anywhere near the maggot (his word not mine) Zemich a moment longer, and perhaps staying where he had lost Dean wasn’t best for him anyway.
Fenwick told Zemich that Fin had been whipped, and Fin kept out of his way so Zemich wouldn’t know that he hadn’t been.
A couple of weeks later, Rider Alexander Evanov arrived with his son Lloyd. Of Mrs Evanov we heard nothing, but I was hopeful that Fin and Lloyd would be friends. It would be good for Fin to know another boy his own age.