20. Information Delivery Service
INFORMATION DELIVERY SERVICE
Thea shot awake at the sound of Aaryn's cry.
So, too, did Starspark. He jolted so hard it flung Thea forward as Aaryn's scream choked off.
Thea lurched toward her, heart in her throat. "Aaryn! What's wrong?"
Aaryn's eyes were wild, blinking up at Thea, unseeing as she hovered her hands helplessly. On shaky legs she stood, one arm against Starspark's scales for balance, and Thea followed, unsure what to do with the echo of silence in the wake of her panic.
Thea's heart sank as Aaryn reached Starspark’s neck and stroked his scar. The one most dragons captured by Evergale wore. Sometimes they were better at hiding it. Not in Starspark's case.
"I'm so sorry," Aaryn said to Starspark. Her hands were as trembling as her voice. "I thought—I didn't know."
Thea approached carefully as Aaryn cried, burying her head into Starspark. He groaned, low and comforting, then a purr slipped out for her.
Past them, an Awakened approached, concern in her expression, confirming that the scream had been real, not a figment of Thea's imagination. Thea waved her away. She was at a loss when faced with Aaryn's tears, but she could handle this. Maybe.
Aaryn was alright, at least physically. Whatever she was going through, only Starspark knew about.
"What happened?"
Aaryn’s attention was on Starspark as she said, "His scar—I'd always wondered about it."
"Okay…" Thea suddenly recalled the odd certainty Aaryn had of Starspark's state while they'd been separated. Her sure footsteps as she'd walked to him on a terrain she'd never seen before. The nights Thea had wondered if Aaryn was there somehow.
"They did it to find me. Did you know that?" Aaryn asked, staring up at her, betrayal in her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?" she demanded, before Thea could even answer. Thea felt as if the ice beneath her feet was very thin. One wrong word and she'd slip under.
"Would you have believed me?" Thea practically whispered the words.
Aaryn's silence told the truth.
Thea softly questioned, "How do you know what happened?"
Aaryn blinked, processing or clearing her mind to focus on the question. Then her cheeks flushed. "I can see things. Through Starspark."
Thea swallowed, remembering all the conversations she'd had with Starspark to try to warm him up to her, all the confessions only he had heard. Or so she'd thought. Thea glanced up at him, narrowing her gaze.
"Through him?" Thea clarified.
"Yes. Like I'm seeing through his eyes."
"That's interesting," Thea mused—especially considering she still had the rune in her skin. Thea didn't know what to make of that. She needed someone more knowledgeable. Vaelen.
"That's why you said we weren't safe there. Because if they would do that to a dragon, who they're supposed to protect—" Aaryn's voice choked off.
Thea had wanted Aaryn to know the truth for so long, to rip back Evergale's curtain. Now that it was happening, Thea wished she could spare her the pain of that knowing. "I'm sorry," she offered, though it wasn't her place to apologize for the evil of others. It just felt right to say.
"What else did they do? What did they put you through?" Aaryn asked, voice tight as she stared up at Starspark. "Did they hurt you when they took you away?"
"It's doubtful," Thea said, at least offering this much comfort. "You would have noticed wounds, since you were in charge of his care. They knew better."
"What about when he was away for days? They heal fast. Would I have missed something so awful?"
"He was apart from you, so they wouldn't have risked the tentative hold they had on his attention. If they'd hurt him, he would've fled and abandoned his rider to find you. Likely it was just the once."
"Once is bad enough," she said, staring down at her own hand, and squeezing it into a fist.
"If that's what his… brand—" She grit the word. "—is for, I almost hate to ask what mine does."
She hesitated, and let the silence grow.
Thea was a coward. She didn't want to be the one to tear Aaryn's world apart.
"I think I'll leave that to Vaelen," Thea said.
Aaryn looked up. It was almost dawn, but the sky was still dark. "I'll wait, then."
Thea could have told her that Vaelen was likely already awake—the woman hardly slept. But she kept it to herself, because Aaryn was sitting down beside Starspark again.
"Sorry for startling you. You should sleep."
"Implying that you won't?" Thea presumed.
She tilted her head, smiling wistfully. "Probably not."
"Then I won't either," Thea said, and plopped down next to her. It was quiet for a moment, but it wasn't filled with waiting or expectation. Instead, the wind blew through the trees softly, and the crickets chirped around them.
"You know, it’s funny—I wondered why the moon had looked so big in my visions. But I guess being this close to it really makes a difference."
Skies above. How often had Thea sat out beneath the same moon and lamented to Starspark about missing Aaryn? About getting her back? How much had she overheard?
Aaryn shuffled against Starspark for a minute, head falling back to lean against his scales. Then she shuffled again, and sighed before leaning over. Her head landed on Thea's shoulder, and Thea stiffened like a piece of Evergale's armor.
"Relax," Aaryn said, and the amusement in her voice made Thea's stomach flip. "You owe me."
"Okay," Thea whispered, calmly and collectedly. Because she was both of those things, of course.
Eventually she did relax, and her lids grew heavy, and Aaryn was still and at ease beside her, so she was probably already asleep, right?
So Thea could just—
It was… warm. Warmer than usual. The flush filled her body, awakening her all at once.
She winced at the bright sun, shading her eyes with her hand as she blinked the spots away.
She was flat on her back, which hadn't been exactly how she'd fallen asleep…
Thea sat up, alarm shooting through her like the strongest coffee. Her hands pressed into the soft ground. There was no Starspark beneath her, like when she'd fallen asleep.
Beside Aaryn.
"Fuck." Thea rushed to her feet, the last of sleep burned away beneath her panic.
Foolish.
Thea checked the immediate area, but it wasn't like Starspark was hiding behind a skies-damned tree. She darted past foliage and rocks and the pond and the other well-behaved dragons lounging in the sun or greeting their Awakened for the day.
Vaelen would have Thea's ass if she'd let Aaryn run off with Starspark not even hours after she'd finally gotten here.
Thea's heart raced wildly in her chest as she skidded into the clearing… and sighed.
She bent over and placed her hands on her knees, breath sawing in and out of her lungs.
As she stared at Aaryn, she eased down into a squat, captivated.
In the morning light, Aaryn's pink hair shone, but it was no longer free around her shoulders.
Instead it had been braided back in preparation of her task.
Which apparently was digging the rock-like crust out of Starspark's eye.
"Oh, quit whining," she muttered to Starspark, who was indeed whining.
He flinched whenever Aaryn's hand—armed with a glove that ended mid-forearm—wiped at his eye.
"This would be easier if you just closed your eye.
We do this every time." Starspark leaned away from her touch, groaning in annoyance and dread and mom, no, as Aaryn kept chasing his head.
Thea's lips curled as she watched them bicker, something swelling behind her ribs, pressing against all the bone and muscle there with this weird, squirmy feeling tucked in like it belonged.
As Aaryn finally swiped her glove into the corner of his eye, Thea's expression shifted abruptly to that of mild disgust as the chunk broke free and dropped into a bucket with a dull thud. It glimmered in the morning light.
"I know," she cooed to Starspark, who shook his head to rid himself of the sensation. "But doesn't that feel better already? Come on, let me—" And so the hunt began again.
Thea let her legs splay out in front of her as she watched, leaning back on her hands, head dropping to her shoulder as she watched Aaryn work. It was entirely adorable, the way she behaved with Starspark. As if instead of a potentially deadly creature, he was nothing more than a… pet.
He was practically the size of one, tinier than the other dragons—because in Evergale they were fed meat, not magic—who wandered near, curious about the newcomer who had finally come out of his shell, grumbling and playing and snorting cutely as Aaryn chased him across the field.
"You look deep in thought," Vaelen said, and Thea startled, sitting up. Legs crossed, back straight, as if she hadn't just been staring at Aaryn like… like something.
The archdruid's expression was carefully blank.
"I'm keeping an eye on her, like you said," Thea told her, voice flat.
"Clearly." Vaelen's eyes glimmered with fond mirth, and Thea felt the heat rush to her face. It had nothing to do with the warmth of the morning.
"I assume this isn't a social call?" Thea asked.
Vaelen smiled to herself, something fierce, something knowing.
"I heard there was a scream this morning," she said. "But everything looks fine now. I trust all is well?"
"I think she should talk to you," Thea said. "About Awakened things."
"She has questions you can't answer?"
With a quiet gulp, Thea resisted the urge to look away or fidget or any number of distracting things that might give away her nerves. "I'm not an Awakened," Thea said.
Vaelen narrowed her eyes. "Alright, then. I'm comfortable delivering scary information."
Thea breathed a sigh of relief.
Once the bucket was full, Aaryn brushed her hands off and total betrayal was captured in Starspark’s expression through clear green eyes. Aaryn rubbed Starspark's snout affectionately, utterly soft as she stared at him. "You feel better, don't deny it."
Finally, Aaryn turned, and found them awaiting her. Thea shot to her feet as she neared, Starspark's nose sniffing in curiosity.