21. Isle Show You #2
Because raising a random kid off the street while building a refuge certainly was distracting enough. Now, looking back, Thea recognized the look in the archdruid’s eyes as the same of those who now arrived to them with nothing but the clothes on their back.
Loss. Vaelen must have lost someone close to her. And Thea had never been brave enough to pry. But she'd been a handful, offering Vaelen an escape.
Maybe not the healthiest coping mechanism. But Thea wouldn't be here without her.
Thea held the door open, and the scent of breakfast awaited them. "No dragons allowed," Thea teased Starspark, who sank to his haunches outside the door. He turned big, round eyes up at Aaryn. Ridiculous, just so—
In moments Thea was following Aaryn back outside, their breakfast clutched in each hand. "You're spoiled," she told the dragon, and led them to a carved bench nearby.
"He missed me!" Aaryn defended him, and Thea hid a smile as she handed Aaryn her food. Half-wrapped in a leaf was a puffy bread, split in the middle and filled with a steaming mix of spiced, meaty vegetables.
Over Aaryn's shoulder, a snout neared, nose whiffling at the spicy scent.
"Starspark," Thea chided. The nose froze. "No."
Aaryn chuckled softly, and Starspark instead stared at Aaryn with waiting, hopeful eyes. "This is, like, a crumb to you," Thea complained.
Aaryn bit down through the bread, crispy on the outside and oh-so-soft and flavorful on the inside. She hummed in delight. "A very tasty crumb," Aaryn said, cheek rounded as she spoke with her large bite.
Thea wanted to die.
Which was a lie, because then she wouldn't be able to watch Aaryn devour their food, groaning and savoring every bite. "This is seriously delicious," Aaryn murmured.
Thea laughed at her enthusiasm and reached out, wiping away the grease at the corner of her lip before she'd even really thought about what she was doing—until the moment she touched Aaryn's soft skin.
Their gazes collided, and Aaryn's thoughts—so obviously deciphered when her eyes were wide as windows—matched Thea's own.
Which went a little something like, Oh scale, what am I doing? Well, I can't stop now—fine, great, I don't even have a napkin, I'll just—
Thea sucked the grease from the pad of her thumb, and Aaryn's cheeks turned even pinker.
"Sorry," Thea said, the heat in her face having nothing to do with the spice of her food.
"No, it's, uhm, okay," Aaryn chirped. Her next bite was much slower as she seemed to sink into her thoughts.
Thea kept her hands to herself and the tense silence settled between them. Tense with what exactly, Thea hadn't decided.
But Aaryn had always been better at this kind of thing, at conversation.
"So how did these come to be? Great floating chunks of earth in the sky," Aaryn said softly.
"Magic," Thea answered simply.
Aaryn knocked her shoulder into Thea's, and even such a casual touch sent her heart racing. "I know, obviously. But where did it all come from? Did they just—" She waved an empty hand and made a whooshing noise. "Make it from nothing?"
Thea's thoughts turned inward as she dug through memories, a smirk curling her lips. "We steal it back."
"What?"
"The earth. It was the druids’ first. Rishika is more vast than Evergale, you know. There are corners deep within forests, or in the mountains, that are unknown. We take it, bring it here."
The circle had already been established when Thea had arrived, young and afraid—she'd been afraid of a lot back then, and angry about it. The land had been largely empty, sure, but as she'd grown up, it had simply become home.
As their numbers had grown, the druids had split the land in a very serious, highly concentrated ritual led by Vaelen.
And when Thea was old enough, when Thea could wield the Hoard herself, she'd helped, and earned the slice in her brow—and most recently a ring on her horn—just like Vaelen’s tattoos and the rings in her braids.
"I'm sure there's detailed accounts of it all in the Archives," Thea mused.
"Archives?" Aaryn asked, sitting up at attention.
Thea pretended to be uninterested. "Yeah. Scrolls and books of the proper history, not whatever Evergale decided is the most palatable version."
"Can we go there next?"
"Of course," Thea said.
On their way, a gleaming purple dragon passed, huge and intimidating, horns stacked upon his head.
"Am says ‘Hey, cousin,’" the man accompanying the dragon called out, and Thea rolled her eyes.
She waited until he was behind them before she answered Aaryn's unasked question. "Am is short for Amethyst—super original purple dragon name, by the way," she shouted after him.
"Fuck off!" he said in a jovial tone, and Thea laughed.
"And that's Rolph, Am's Awakened. He likes to tease that Amethyst and I are related, because, you know, the horns," she said, waving her hand around her head.
Aaryn laughed. "Do you have some heritage in Amethyst's family line?"
Thea shoved her. "Somewhere in my bloodline are dragons, yes. But not Amethyst. Now, why don’t we start at Rune Hatch? Assuming that’s alright with Starspark."
Starspark’s happy trot halted when they turned to him, eyes narrowing as he took in their silent request. With a put-upon sigh, he sank down and shifted his wings out of the way to allow them to climb on.