10. Collaboration #2
Carissa departed the table, holding her head high as she left the dining hall, despite the stares that followed her.
Scales, how Aaryn wished to be brave like her.
Aaryn swallowed as she looked to the other Tethered. Each one of them seemed just as uncomfortable as Aaryn with this turn of events.
They didn't want her here.
And Aaryn was not one to remain where she was unwanted.
She cleared her throat. “Apologies for ruining the mood, and the lovely meal,” she said, as it was placed before them. “Tomorrow you will not have to look forward to such an event.”
She’d find somewhere else to eat. Anywhere. She’d be confined to her room or eat outside with the dragons and their pails of fish before she subjected herself to this humiliation.
She ate with cheeks red from frustration and a stomach turning from embarrassment.
There was no chatter. No giggles. No laughter or teasing or discussion of the dragons.
Just silence and the scrape of dinnerware.
At this table, she was stuck in a social nightmare, and Aaryn wished nothing more than to wake up.
These Tethered were her friends.
Not a single one of them had asked her how she fared. Were they not even curious as to Starspark’s condition?
If they didn't even care for her dragon, she found that a greater assault than their easy dismissal of Aaryn herself.
Beneath the table, Rose bumped her shoe into Aaryn, a silent show of support.
Aaryn forced herself to finish her dinner as to be polite to the staff, who worked so hard to provide for them. But she was the first to stand once it was acceptable to do so. Yet she couldn't leave without one last word.
“I suppose when I think of being a Tethered, I think not only of my dragon, but of the very small community we find only in each other. I feared that when Starspark was taken, things would change for me.” She cleared her throat of the tears that gathered.
“I had hoped to find comfort in the only people in the world who could understand my loss, but it seems that my hope would serve me better elsewhere. Goodnight, Tethered.”
Aaryn took a page out of Carissa’s book and left the dining hall with her head high, though her pulse raced and her stomach clenched despite the roasted chicken that filled it.
As she passed the knight, Runa, she fell in behind Aaryn and remained silent as she wound through the castle back to her rooms.
Where she would retire alone.
Aaryn was too big for her body once more, despite the blankets that covered her chest.
The moon, brighter and bigger than she had ever, ever seen it, despite her apparent huge size, loomed overhead.
She blinked, and it felt slow as the grasses and trees and sky disappeared before returning.
Before her lay huge dragon's claws, glimmering obsidian in the dark of night instead of their sparkle in the light of day.
Starspark, she thought.
The dragon snuffled, and for a moment she thought maybe he'd heard her, but then a woman stepped into view. Horns. Thea.
"It's me again, surprise," she drawled.
Starspark did not even shift.
"I know you miss your person," she said, drawing closer with a bucket, and sighed.
"It's hard to be separated. But Starspark, you have to eat.
" Her voice took on a pleading tone as she reached out to the dragon who simply… laid there. Still as a statue. Her palm landed on his snout and he growled, low and dangerous-sounding even to Aaryn, but he didn’t shake her off.
"Now you don't even pull away anymore? Come on, dragon.
I know better than to think you're getting used to me.
I know you're mad. Please? It's been too many days of this. "
Aaryn's heart ached for her dragon. They didn't even eat that often! Evergale provided the dragons with the meat and protein to keep them strong, but Starspark loved treats.
"I promise, this tastes just like the fish they gave you," Thea tried again. "Aaryn would want you to take care of yourself." Her brow furrowed and she looked up at Starspark thoughtfully.
Only then did her dragon make any noise at all, a mournful whine. She watched from Starspark's eyes as Thea turned her head, swallowing sharply.
"Starspark, come on," Thea begged, then set her jaw tight. Her gaze hardened. "Aaryn."
Aaryn gasped, hand jerking as she clenched the blankets to her chest, and held her breath. How did Thea know?
"If you're there—skies, this is ridiculous if not." Thea ran a hand through her hair, puffed out her cheeks.
Thea held out a fish, and Aaryn wrinkled her nose. She did not relish the slimy feel of the fish against her hand, but she did love the way Starspark would slurp them up.
It was so very unlike him to remain unmoving despite the smelly fish being presented to him.
She appreciated Thea's efforts. Caring for him when Aaryn could not.
Seeing the affection that Thea shared with him in the face of his obstinance… softened her anger toward the woman.
She was dressed differently. Gone was the hood she'd worn in the orchard. In its place were softer looking clothes, mismatched but charming all the same with her hair tied back like that.
"Aaryn. Are you there? Help me help Starspark. Help me feed him."
Why did her name on Thea's lips feel so delightfully forbidden?
Aaryn shook her head at the thought, feeling the pillow beneath her head sink in as she moved in her sleep.
"How?" she whispered into the empty room.
Come on, Starspark, eat! she pleaded silently, trying to force the words down whatever connection bridged her and her dragon. She didn't want him to suffer because of his own stubbornness, because his love for her was so great.
She felt it then, as if it was her own belly, the loud rumble before his nostrils flared, and the scent of the fish was stinkier than ever.
I know you're hungry. Eat, she urged.
"Eat," Thea said out loud, moving even closer.
Thea and Aaryn gasped in tandem as Starspark moved, his nose brushing the fish, before he opened his maw and Thea released her hold.
Starspark grumbled as he ate, as if he was not happy to be doing so.
That's it! Yes, Starspark! You can do it!
Thea hesitantly held out another fish, and Starspark let her drop it between his teeth. They went down like an after dinner mint, and—
Aaryn blinked with Starspark's eyes.
Thea was grinning, lit beneath the impossibly huge moon. She didn't speak, maybe afraid this tentative peace would be broken, but her eyes were expressive enough. She was… delighted.
Aaryn’s heart thumped—not only with relief that Starspark was giving in, possibly with her own encouragement, but also with… a sticky fondness. For Thea. She was embarrassed to even think it, after all Thea had done.
She averted her thoughts to something safer.
What did this mean? She had never done something like this with Starspark, never awoken to see with his eyes. None of the other Tethered had ever spoken of this, either.
And yet here Aaryn was, staring at Thea through his vision. She tried to be smart about it, to gaze at the surroundings, but she did not control Starspark in this… dreamscape. She simply observed. And scolded him into eating, apparently.
Aaryn felt a smile curl her lips as Starspark ate, as Thea fed him. It was as close as Starspark had ever allowed her, usually huffing his discontent at her presence.
One thing she could see clearly was Thea's relief as he continued to accept fish from her. "I'll come back with a feast, Starspark, I promise," she whispered, and laid a hand against his snout. "Tell Aaryn I said thank you."
Aaryn wanted to cry at the gentleness in Thea's tone.
Starspark nudged her, and Thea drew in a breath just as shaky as Aaryn’s.