20. Information Delivery Service #2
"Hello," she greeted, eyes flicking to Thea briefly before returning to Vaelen. "Uhm, Archdruid. Do I—" She made to bow, and Vaelen let out a booming laugh.
"That is absolutely not necessary here, I assure you, though your manners are appreciated."
"Sorry," Aaryn said, cheeks flushing beneath the morning sun.
Thea was trying to be normal about her, but she was making it difficult.
"Aaryn," Vaelen called, and Aaryn straightened up, eyes wide as if she was being chastised. "I don’t bite," she said with a grin.
Thea coughed out a chuckle as Aaryn sputtered, eventually spilling into a laugh.
"I heard you had questions?"
Aaryn fell into step with her, and Thea hung back, finding herself beside Starspark. He glared at her, and Thea stuck her tongue out at him.
Vaelen's steps were quick, always in a hurry, not enough time in the day—but she was making an effort to slow. Starspark lifted his head in the air, nose sniffing.
Aaryn glanced around them as if she were about to share a secret. "I have more questions than I know how to ask."
"Go on," Vaelen urged.
She puffed out a breath. "When I was separated from Starspark," Aaryn began, and Thea buried a wince, glad she could hide momentarily. "I had a few… I've been calling them visions, but they're similar to dreams in that I'm asleep when I see them."
"I wondered if that was the case," Vaelen mused.
"What? Why?"
"We suspected, because you seemed to be more… aware of Starspark than usual. Tell me how they work for you."
For you? Thea wondered.
"Well—it's like I'm Starspark in the dreams. I see and hear and feel what he senses, which so far hasn't been so scary… until last night."
Thea watched Vaelen, curious now that something beyond good leadership and hospitality lay in her interest. Even her steps slowed.
"What happened last night?"
"I was Starspark again, but unlike my other visions, this one was…
in the past. I saw how—" She swallowed sharply, expression darkening, and Thea heard her scream echo in her head all over again.
"I saw how they used him to find me. For the lottery.
" Before Thea could reach out—with what?
an inadequate hand on her shoulder?—Starspark shuffled a little closer, bumping Aaryn with his snout as if to reassure her he was alright.
See? Starspark knew exactly what she needed.
A small smile curled her lips, and to Vaelen, the interaction did not go unnoticed. Vaelen finally paused before a line of shrubbery and flowers and young trees. Steady thumps sounded from the other side.
"You were seeing the past, as opposed to…"
Aaryn's lips parted once, twice, before she answered.
"I guess… the present? I saw Thea a few times.
" Thea snapped to attention as her worries came to fruition.
"Felt Starspark when he was hungry but didn't want to eat.
" Thea’s worried excitement was cut short by guilt, and Starspark's smug green eyes.
“And I felt his… anger. His irritation and frustration.”
Vaelen hummed in consideration. "Did you tell anyone what you saw?" Vaelen asked the question a little sharply.
Oh. Right. Had Aaryn run to the prince and told him?
Thea was worried about herself when Vaelen was worried about their people.
Would the prince be able to parse their whereabouts from her descriptions?
Thea glanced around, viewing their surroundings through the gaze of someone who was unfamiliar.
It could be… anywhere. Just nature and trees and rocks and ponds.
And dragons. Lots of dragons. Big dragons.
Thea's breath went taut; tension thrummed through her as her mind raced. If the prince knew where they were, then everyone was in danger because—
"No. The prince... no. I didn't tell him," Aaryn answered softly, and Thea released a silent sigh of relief. As well as something like satisfaction. How long had Aaryn already known, even subconsciously, that she didn't belong in Evergale?
"Good," Vaelen said, nodding in approval.
"These visions are how your connection with Starspark is manifesting.
You come from a place where the Tethered are the closest one can be to a dragon.
But now that you're here, I'd like you to know that the connection runs much, much deeper than Evergale allows. "
Vaelen let Aaryn's brow dip in confusion before she stepped around the corner of the natural barrier.
She motioned to what they called the Playground.
Nature had been grown with chaos, all sharp turns and tall peaks, twisting vines and low limbs left in the wake of the magic.
A perfect challenge for the dragons and their Awakened.
Dispersed between them were small fields, like the one before them.
A light-colored dragon's scales caught the blush of the early morning as she flew up into the air, straight as an arrow leased from a bow.
…Similar to the one on the dragon's back, held artfully between the hands of a competent bowman. The dragon reached her summit far above and flared her wings, twisting into a nosedive. She seemed weightless in the sky, and as the bow stretched, the nocked arrow was steady.
Thea was familiar with this drill, and turned her gaze to Aaryn as she witnessed the kind of synchronicity that could only come from a connection with a dragon.
Her hand stilled on Starspark's nose. Her brows rose, eyes wide, as the twang sounded.
The Awakened had hit her target. Then again. And a third time.
With each thump of success, Aaryn's mouth parted, and she leaned forward, entranced, her hand slipping along Starpark's snout.
The pale dragon landed soft as a feather, and the rider dismounted, offering an affectionate stroke of her scales.
"I hope that you'll let us show you there is no better person on a dragon's back than the one with the most natural connection to them: their Awakened."
"Awakened," Aaryn murmured. "Thea said they were like Tethered."
At Vaelen's sharp glance, Thea shrugged and asked, "How else do I explain it to someone who only knows the world through Evergale's lens?"
"She's not wrong," Vaelen finally said. "Anyone can ride a dragon, if they're kind enough.
Anyone can wield magic, if they're taught.
But a few rare, special people can connect to dragons and the magic they inherently represent and access and feed on.
It deepens one's connection, emotionally, physically, and magically. "
"Dragons… feed on magic?"
Vaelen nodded. "Usually. They can survive on other things. Protein, meat. But magic fills them for longer." She eyed Starspark with a small grin. "Allows them to grow."
Starspark huffed, and Aaryn blinked quickly again, processing all the new information.
"It will take time to get to this, of course," Vaelen said, motioning to the dragon running another drill, her Awakened weaponless on her scaled back.
Aaryn's gaze was rapt on the pair, on the possibilities.
"As well as some major decisions on your part, Aaryn.
It is up to you to choose your own path.
I am simply here to make sure you have all the information available before you do so. "
"You're really good at not actually giving me any answers," Aaryn muttered.
Thea cracked out a laugh as Aaryn’s face turned red instantly at the slip. Vaelen's chuckle was deep and amused as she patted Aaryn on the shoulder. "I'm sorry, I just don't want to overwhelm you. What do you wish to know?"
"What decisions? How do I deepen my connection to Starspark?
How do I get to… that?" she asked. The pair in the sky looped and spun, and—Aaryn gasped as the Awakened slipped from her saddle to dash down the dragon's scales, feet sure of their placement, as if the dragon herself knew where each step would land and moved with the ease of air to make sure she gave the human a surface to land each foot upon.
Small white bursts of light flickered in her hands, the color almost lost in the brightness of the morning sun rays before the energy slapped into the targets around the field with a hiss and sizzle.
"That's Zalene, and her dragon, Pearl. Zalene has been Awakened for…" Vaelen glanced at Thea. "Seven years?"
"Sounds right," Thea guessed. Thea had been with Vaelen for about ten years at that point. There had only been four isles in Cloud Haven back then.
"That kind of ease with magic does not come overnight," Vaelen warned. "And it does not come lightly."
"Balance," Aaryn said suddenly, and turned away from Zalene's effortless landing. "That's why you're dancing around the answer. Tell me. What do I have to give up in order to… Awaken?"
Vaelen blinked, as if surprised Aaryn was so eager. Thea felt a small burst of pride. Aaryn wasn't just a girl in a tower anymore. She wanted something, and she wanted to know how to get it. She wasn't afraid to ask questions now.
Thea hadn't seen this side of her before.
She liked it.
Vaelen bit back a smile and held out her right hand. Naturally, Aaryn offered her left—now bare, no jewels in sight—and Vaelen gripped it gently before turning it over, revealing the brand from Evergale. The crest, burned in her skin in an intricate flourish.
"This, to you, is a form of class. It offers you access to places you otherwise would not be able to go.
To you, this is proof of your connection to Starspark.
But those are Evergale's rules, and this is Evergale's crest, and we are not in Evergale.
Buried within this design is a rune, and the magic of this rune was repurposed like…
a funnel. Not only does it block the connection between you and your dragon that was awakened the day they gave him that scar, but it takes the magic that you should naturally have access to, and it redirects it. "
"To where? What are they doing with it?" Aaryn carefully took her hand back, attention drawn to the scar.