18. Welcome Return
T he words felt strange to say aloud, but as he did, Aeden felt like the world had been lifted from his shoulders.
The spectre attacking him and Nyra seemed like a distant dream.
He had no clue what it was or why it attacked them, and he worried the others might think he had lost his sanity, so he opted to keep it between him and Nyra.
There was enough to explain already without him sounding like a madman ranting and raving about ghosts.
His friends grilled him on just about everything all the way back to the academy. What had the bonding process felt like? Was it painful? How did he do it?
Master Ember was who Aeden wanted to speak to more than anyone right now, so they headed towards the hatchery.
As they approached the outer edges of the courtyard, Aeden’s chest beat like a battle drum. The last thing he wanted was all eyes on him as he strode right through the middle of the academy with an Aer- Kin in tow.
“Harrison, can you go ahead and alert Master Ember? The sooner he can get to us, the better.”
“I’ll go with him,” Vivienne said.
“I’ll stay with you.” Serene’s attention diverted to a group of students who were staring at them. “Is there a problem?”
Aeden thought he recognised them from his cohort, but he couldn’t be sure.
What he could be sure of was that the group looked just as shocked as Harrison had when he first laid eyes on Nyra.
Serene’s challenge had startled them, causing them to divert their attention elsewhere, but there was no doubt now that their hushed words were entirely about him.
Nyra walked beside Aeden, slowly and carefully. Her head was lowered, not from defence but from apprehension, most likely from mirroring Aeden’s thoughts and feelings.
As they continued to walk through the academy, more and more students stopped in their tracks, the hushed words becoming more of a crescendo, like an orchestra reaching its peak. Soon they no longer spoke in hushed whispers, but loud conversation.
Serene scowled at each and every one of them, even the students from the second and third years.
“You can’t fight all of them,” Aeden said, trying his hardest to ignore them.
He held his head high, wanting to show he was proud, but he was trembling like never before.
He had never known fear like it. Uncertainty caused his anxiety to swell.
The academy was responsible for cultivating and hatching all the Aer-Kin eggs, and one thing they were clear about was their own rules.
Aeden was pretty certain he had broken every single one of them by bonding with a hatchling outside of the hatchery.
Not knowing how the academy might react, that was what was causing him the most anxiety, and judging by the looks and whispers he was getting, he was right to feel nervous.
The last thing Aeden had wanted when he first stepped through the doors of the academy was to draw too much attention to himself, and he had failed miserably.
Starting a fight in the dining hall, being jumped by Kael and nearly killed – these were things that would prompt any other student to lie low for a while.
Now Aeden was walking through the academy grounds, having been missing all day from a simple endurance exercise, complete with an injured ankle and a newly hatched Aer-Kin.
As much as he tried to ignore what the other students were saying, he could feel his cheeks reddening as students began to notice Nyra’s wings.
“Isn’t he a first year?”
“He’s bonded?”
“What’s wrong with its wings?”
“That’s forbidden.”
“I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes.”
“ Don’t give them the satisfaction of a response ,” Nyra said gently. Her voice was so childlike that it made Aeden feel even worse. She was a hatchling, she didn’t know this world, and Aeden’s heart bled for the fact that she was already being exposed to such cruel behaviour.
“ It’s hard not to ,” Aeden replied through their bond, so that only the two of them were able to hear their exchanged words. “ It makes me so angry .”
“ I know ,” Nyra said, “ I can feel your anger rising. Please try not to react, it’s making it difficult for me . ”
Guilt weighed on Aeden as he realised that as much as Nyra’s emotions and feelings affected him, it also worked the other way around.
“ Okay ,” he said, “ let’s do this walk together .”
He glanced at Serene, who was offering more than a hard stare to any student who dared look at them a moment too long. “The sooner we get to the hatchery, the better,” Aeden said out loud.
“I couldn’t agree more. These assholes are acting like they’ve never seen an Aer-Kin before,” Serene said, wearing a furious expression.
As much as he appreciated Serene’s sentiment, Aeden thought about how he would react if it was another student in his shoes.
If he was truly honest with himself, he would be behaving no differently.
Had this ever happened at the academy before?
Aeden thought back to all the textbooks he had read prior to enlisting.
He couldn’t remember reading anything about this kind of situation.
One student had the gall to the spit on the ground towards them.
Aeden didn’t recognise him from his cohort, so he must have been a second or third year.
He made a not-so discreet remark about Nyra being an abomination.
If not for Nyra’s calming presence through the weave, Aeden would have likely challenged the senior student.
If the anger in his face was a reflection of the academy and his peers, then Aeden had everything to be worried about.
They passed under a large archway, away from the growing crowd. Finally the hatchery was in sight. Two guards were standing still at the entrance, but they became more animated once they noticed Aeden, Serene, and the unmistakable Nyra walking alongside them .
“This should be interesting,” Serene said. “There’s no backing down now.” She let out a nervous cough and straightened herself out.
“I just want to know what happens now,” Aeden said. “More than anything, I want to know if they can help Nyra with her wings.”
As they got closer to the hatchery, the guards looked dumbfounded, both of them taking a defensive stance with their polearms.
“Halt!” the one on the right said. He was a thickset man with a deep, commanding voice. His greying beard and mottled face hinted that he was the more experienced of the two and enjoyed a drink when not on duty.
Aeden raised his hands. “I just want to see Master Ember.”
“Aer-Kin are only allowed in designated spaces,” the man said, raising his weapon slightly.
“I understand that,” Aeden said, “but something happened, and I really need to speak to Master Ember.” He looked to his side at Nyra, her size and shape already imposing despite her young age.
Standing, she must have been at least seven feet tall already, and he wondered just how big she would become.
Her black and orange scales shimmered in the light, her colours mesmerising.
To Aeden, at least. He could have sworn her snout was more elongated now, which made sense, as she had been condensed into her stone egg before hatching.
Rows of razor-sharp teeth reminded Aeden just how dangerous she could be if she wanted, although her temperament seemed to be more calming than anything.
“Then why are you out here with an Aer-Kin?” the guard asked, his voice elevating to a frustrated tone .
“What do you means he has an Aer-Kin?” Master Ember called out from behind the entranceway the guards were protecting.
“It’s hard to explain, you have to just see,” came Harrison’s voice with an air of excitement.
Master Ember marched from behind the wall, his large overcoat almost trailing on the ground. His face was flustered and his eyebrows furrowed.
His eyes widened when he saw Aeden and Nyra standing outside the hatchery.
He looked up at Nyra, taking in every detail of her, his mouth widening through his thick, matted beard.
“By the gods,” he said slowly, each word spoken as if he was questioning what exactly he was seeing.
“How in the blazes?” His eyes didn’t move from Nyra’s.
It was part wonder, part shock in the way that he stared, and Aeden stood patiently waiting for him to say something.
“She’s beautiful,” Master Ember finally said, breaking the silence. Then a serious look took hold of his face. “Where did you find her?” He raised his hands and stepped slowly towards Nyra.
Nyra remained calm, which in turn helped Aeden remain calm. Out of all the teachers of the academy, Master Ember was the one that Aeden felt to be the most trustworthy.
Nyra was unmoving as Master Ember approached her until he was close enough to touch her chest. He continued to move slowly, not wanting to startle the young Aer-Kin, practically holding his breath as he inched closer and closer.
Finally, he pressed his head against her and listened intently for a few moments, softly stroking her scales .
Aeden could sense that Nyra was okay with this. In fact, she quite liked having her scales stroked, information that Aeden felt he should hold on to.
When Master Ember’s eyes darted to Aeden, he let out a sigh.
“You’re bonded to her, aren’t you?” He gave Nyra a pat and stepped back from her to examine her features once more as Nyra looked over his thickset frame.
He looked like he belonged in the wild, his coat tattered and torn, his coarse, greyish red hair and beard unkempt and shaggy.
Aeden was surprised when Nyra lowered her head to Master Ember and he accepted the invitation to rub the side of her head. He was clearly a natural with Aer-Kin, which made sense given he was in charge of the hatchery.
“How can you tell?” Aeden asked. Harrison and Vivienne had moved to join him and Serene, the three of them looking on in anticipation of what would happen next.