It was about ten in the morning when I returned to the city of Old Mallin, and as I approached a restless energy filled me, as though the very air in and around the city was electric.

  I’d trusted my mother to keep Herald safe for a day and a night, and for all my doubts my trust had proven well placed. Reaper had sworn that no harm would come to my sister, and as I flew north, cutting through the air with a grace I’d never dreamed of, I could feel Herald waiting for me.

  That still left my concerns over what Tam had said, but seeing Herald well was first on my mind. Anything else could come after.

  My sense of where she was led me to the library. Of course it did; Herald had probably been at work for hours, and I’d expected to find her there. I had not expected to find the area outside of the library cleared of trees and my mother waiting before the door, one huge wing up to keep the rain off her.

  She gave me a long look as I landed, then stuck her head in the door. “Little Herald,” she said, her words muffled, “your sister is back.”

  It only took seconds before Herald appeared, coming out the door to stand beside Reaper with wide eyes and a huge smile on her face.

  “Draka!” When she said my name it was almost a gasp, like she didn’t know what to say. “Mercies, Embers, look at your daughter! Magnificent, is she not?”

  “She certainly is,” my mother said with a pleased rumble. “Your trip must have been most profitable.”

  “It was,” I said, looking between the two with mild confusion. Forty-eight hours ago Herald had been terrified of my mother. Twenty-four hours ago she’d still been afraid, though willing to put herself in her care. Here she was, standing next to her, speaking to her like they were old friends!

  “Embers?” I asked lamely.

  “Little Herald explained that the humans call me ‘Reaper.’ I have never liked that epithet, in any language. I far prefer ‘Embers’ if we are to be informal.” She paused. Then, as though revealing a great secret, she lowered her voice and said, “It is what your grandfather used to call me.”

  “Oh. I’ll make sure to spread the word.”

  “Please do. Though I expect you to call me ‘Mother.’ Now, I hope that you will tell us what you have been doing, before Herald here bursts with excitement.”

  Herald took that as an invitation to speak. “You must be a foot, foot and a half taller! The Council paid up?”

  “The council paid up,” I confirmed, then gave them the most sanitized version of anything I’d ever told anyone. Not a word about the attacks on Mak and the inn, and certainly not about the lord hierophant’s disrespect or my outburst and subsequent poorly veiled threats. The picture I painted was all champagne and roses. I did not want Embers deciding that the Palace needed to be burned down to teach the Council a lesson.

  “Very good,” Embers said, getting to her feet when I’d finished. “Then I shall leave you. I am sure that little Herald wishes to get back to her task, and I am overdue for a nap. Herald, I shall have your fire lit after sundown. Do not be late, or it will burn out.”

  “Thank you, Embers!” Herald said, entering the library with a wave and a smile.

  “I kept her safe, as promised,” Embers said when we were alone outside. “No animal or monster has dared show itself, and the ambient magic has not touched her, so far as I can tell. And I made sure she ate and drank and such. She is forgetful when she is excited, is she not?”

  “She is,” I agreed with a smile. “Ambient magic?”

  “Hmm? Oh, yes. The ambient magic is wonderfully strong here. I am sure you’ve felt it. In any case, she is a delightful little female. I see why you are so protective of her. And such interesting stories she can tell!”

  “Wait, stories?” I looked between Embers and the open door. “What stories?”

  “She told me about your horn, for one. All about it. Quite amusing. Do you know, she asked if she could keep one of my shed scales?”

  “Oh. Oh, no! I’ll talk to her.”

  “I acquiesced.” Ember’s eyes crinkled with amusement. “She has always been fascinated with dragons, to hear her tell it. Why should she not have a living reminder? Now, I expect you back at the temple shortly after sundown. See you then, daughter!”

  I watched helplessly as she leaped into the air, even though it was only a quarter mile to the temple. I’d left those two alone for just over twenty-four hours, and Herald was telling stories about me? What had happened? What was this about ambient magic? And she’d given Herald a scale? What?

  Then I remembered Tam’s words about my mother being a bigger, scarier, more powerful dragon than me, and what that might do to someone’s head. I hurried into the library, making sure to Shift the water dripping from me off at the door.

  Herald was already at one of the working desks, but her eyes were on the door, waiting for me.

  “Do you think Embers believed you?” she asked with a sly smile.

  “About which part?”

  “Any of it, really. I may not be Mak, but I can tell that things were bad. Though, not so bad that you would worry about telling me.”

  “Nah, yeah,” I sighed. “You’re right.” Then I told her the whole story, not leaving anything out.

  “Mak took on four assassins?” Herald had gotten up from the desk and joined me on the floor as I was filling her in on the parts I’d omitted, and once I finished she was as excited as she’d been when I arrived.

  “Made them flee, then ran them down, yeah.”

  “And Kira, Kira, smashed someone in the head? With a lightstone?”

  “That’s what she told me.”

  “Incredible. Unbelievable.”

  “Really is. What about me threatening the Council?”

  She chuckled. “Very much believable.”

  “Hey!”

  “It is! If what you told me is correct, if you remembered Lord Hierophant Nahasia’s words right, I would be surprised if your reaction was anything but… volatile. Draka, he insulted you! He insulted Embers! He wounded your pride! Of course you would lash out!”

  “Right. Just… now what? How do we work with them after this?”

  “Very carefully, if at all. I do not see the lord hierophant ever cooperating, if only out of stubbornness. The others, the lady admiral and the lord justice, they may be convinced, from what I have heard. I suspect they are more pragmatic.”

  “Yeah, here’s hoping,” I huffed. “So. Embers?”

  “Hmm?”

  “You’re surprisingly friendly with her.”

  “She is a surprisingly likable dragon, when you show her proper respect. Much like someone else I know.”

  “Must be a dragon thing. But, Herald… do you feel strange around her at all?”

  Her eyebrows beetled, and she cocked her head just a bit. “How do you mean?”

  “It seems like you took a liking to her very quickly.”

  “Well, I did. We talked a lot. About you, about me, about her, all kinds of things, really. She’s really quite interested in humans and curious about Karakan and the League and everyone else here. And she likes to talk about her flock and other humans she has known, which is… a lot. Did you know she was already over two centuries old when she had you?”

  “I didn’t, no.”

  “She was. And you have I do not know how many brothers and sisters out there. A dozen at least, who are still alive today, and dozens more who have died over the years. I cannot tell you, exactly. She got upset while telling me. I did not want to push.”

  “I can imagine.” I felt a pang of sympathy for the old girl. If what Herald told me was right, it was no wonder Ember was so concerned about me. “But that’s all it is? You’ve bonded, just talking while I was away?”

  “Pretty much, yes. What’s this about?”

  “The Council. The thing that made me blow up at them was when Nahasia — the lord hierophant,” I added at her silent question, “insulted her. Called her… something. ‘Vile lizard,’ maybe? I kind of blanked.”

  She looked at me for a moment. “You wonder why that made you angry.”

  “Right, yeah. A bit.”

  “And you know what effect you yourself have on people.”

  I nodded.

  “And you worry that she is doing that to you. And to me.”

  I laughed, but even I could hear how anxious it was. “And everyone thinks that Mak’s the perceptive one.”

  “Hey,” she said, looking worried suddenly and dropping her careful diction. “Don’t deflect. Are you worried she’s messing with your head?”

  “Yeah,” I admitted. “I don’t like it when Zabra or Kesra do it, or even Ardek, really. But…”

  “Is this about me, more than you?”

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  I nodded mutely.

  “But… why? Why does it bother you if I like your mother? I know you don’t like sharing me with people but…” She trailed off as her face lit up with understanding. “Oh, Draka. No!”

  “She’s so much more powerful than me.”

  “But she wouldn’t! I wouldn’t!”

  “I know she promised, but what if she can’t control it? I can’t. And you… I know you’d never mean to. But you’ve seen her. With your shadowsight, I mean. You know what she is. What if you can’t resist her? I don’t think I can!”

  “Draka…” It was halfway between a laugh and an exasperated groan. She turned around and knelt next to me, then stood and crawled onto my back, lying down with her chin pressed between my shoulders. As I turned my neck around to look at her, I felt her move around; she was lying as straight as she could along my spine. “Mercies, but you are getting big!” she said. “You must be eight feet from tail to neck! You were so little when we met! What was I saying?”

  “You were about to tell me that I’m a big, silly lizard, I think.”

  “Right. Draka, you big, silly, unconfident lizard. Mak and I are immune! We are immune to Zabra, and to Kesra, and to Ardek. Remember? Even when you had to leave the room, they could not affect us. We belong to you, now and forever, and nothing can change that. I may not feel your mental state, like our sister does, but I feel you, and that grows stronger every day. And your mother, a great, powerful, and surprisingly pleasant lady though she may be, is not going to interfere with that.”

  “Yeah? You’re sure?”

  “Yes! If anyone here has cause to be worried, it is me! Don’t you dare let her get inside your head and fly off with her, or I will never forgive you!”

  “Yes, you will,” I said, and those three words carried all the regrets I’d gathered since I first began to understand what I’d done to Herald. What I did, to different degrees, to anyone who spent any length of time with me.

  “Yes,” she sighed, wrapping her arms around me as far as they would go. “I will. But the sentiment remains.”

  We lay silent for a long time. It occurred to me that the books that surrounded us, the lost knowledge and culture of a fallen civilization, was probably worth many, many times more than my entire hoard. My mother had mentioned that she had books in her hoard, and I found myself wondering if she’d like to take some with her.

  I shook my head. “Will you promise that you’ll keep an eye on me?” I asked. “In case I start acting strangely toward her?”

  She patted my side. “Of course.”

  “Hey, Herald?”

  “Mmm?”

  “Happy birthday.”

  “Is it?”

  “That’s what Tam told me.”

  “Oh. Huh. Solstice in two days, then.”

  “Yeah. But you’re eighteen. That’s really important, back where I’m from.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “Means you’re an adult. Your own person. Your parents can’t control you anymore.”

  “I am already an adult.”

  “I know.”

  “Still have to listen to Mak, though, as long as I am part of the family.”

  “We didn’t have that. Every adult was their own little House.”

  “Huh. Strange.”

  “Oh, and at eighteen you could buy beer and wine and stuff. Legally.”

  She giggled. “That sounds more like it. Though I am pretty sure any wine merchant would sell wine to a kid if he had a couple of peacocks to offer.”

  “I can believe that. You don’t serve kids at the inn, do you?”

  “Only quarter wine or small beer.”

  “Watered down?”

  “Yeah.”

  “All right, I guess,” I huffed, long and slow. Not my place, I figured, and it wasn’t like I hadn’t had my share of drinks before it was strictly legal. “Hey, Herald.”

  “Hmm?”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t bring you anything. A present, I mean. I asked Tam to get something, but I couldn’t bring anything. Found out too late, and I can’t take anything from the hoard. You know how it is.”

  “I know. But you are here. I do not need anything else.”

  “That’s so sappy.”

  “I know. But it is my eighteenth birthday. By your rules, I think I get to be as sappy as I wish.”

  “Even my mother got you something, and she had no idea.”

  “She told you about that, did she?” I could hear the blush in her voice. “Listen, Draka, I know what it looks like. It is for Avjilan. I swear!”

  “Hmm?”

  “In case we need to find her.”

  “Oh! Right! I’d forgotten about that.”

  “Good thing you have me, then.”

  “It really is.” I bent my head around and nuzzled her a bit. “The others want to see you, you know. Tam was hoping we could have a nice dinner, a party, something like that.”

  “I am almost done copying the primer.”

  “How almost?”

  “A few hours. Might be doable today.”

  “It’s three hours to Karakan.”

  She patted my side again then sat up and slid off me. “I suppose I had best get started, then. And you should clear this with Embers.”

  “She’s napping, though.” It was a feeble protest, and I knew it. And I knew that I should talk to my mother before suddenly taking off again, but I wanted to stay with Herald. Not because I worried about her safety. It was as simple as wanting to spend time with her. I’d spent a whole day away, and I felt out of balance. Hell, on some level, every hour spent apart from her felt like an hour partially wasted.

  I decided very quickly that I should never repeat those thoughts to anyone. Far too much room for misinterpretation there.

  The most important thing about my relationship with Herald, though, was that I trusted her judgment. So when she said that I should go talk to my mom, I went to talk to my mom.

  Embers had said that she’d go take a nap. In what I assumed based on myself to be typical dragon fashion she was fast asleep when I arrived at the temple; if I wanted to sleep it was normally as easy as laying my head down and deciding to sleep, and I saw no reason why it should be any different for her.

  She was also just as vigilant while asleep as I was. I was only a few feet inside the door when the eye facing me cracked open, blinking once, slowly as I approached, looking at me with a relaxed patience.

  “You left little Herald alone,” she said when I stopped and sat down. There was some disapproval there; Is she worried about Herald’s safety, I wondered? She’d taken a liking to my sister, after all.

  “Only for a bit. Do you know about humans and birthdays?”

  “Well enough. Some mark the day of their birth, others the day they were named, others still the turning of the year. What of it?”

  “It’s Herald’s birthday today.”

  “Indeed?”

  “I’d like to take her back to the city, to celebrate with her family.”

  “You only just returned,” she said, and I noted that she had something in common with human mothers. She just said it. Not accusing, just observing that I just got here, and now I wanted to leave again. And without a word, or even a change of expression or tone, she made it clear how very disappointed she was.

  “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

  “I am sure.”

  “You don’t mind?”

  “Not at all. Go. Spend time with your little friends.”

  “Mother—”

  “Do not worry about me. I can wait another day to have a conversation with my daughter. I crossed the world to find you, after all.”

  “I will be back. Tomorrow.”

  Her long-suffering huff said more than words ever could.

  “How about you come back to the library?” I suggested. “Herald will be busy with her work. We’ll keep each other company while keeping an eye on her.”

  “Hrrm?”

  “I want to get to know you better. Things are just very…” I searched for a word that wouldn’t sound like I was covering something up, “hectic, right now. Herald’s birthday, the war, talking to the Council—”

  “Very well. Let us go.”

  Embers heaved herself to her feet, pleased as anything. Her eyes had creased happily the moment I mentioned wanting to get to know her, and that was apparently all it took. We made our way back to the library. Embers lay with her head inside the door while I lay farther in, and for the rest of that day we just talked.

  And I found, of course, that Herald was right: as long as things were to her liking, Embers was surprisingly easy to get along with. I told her about things I’d done, leaving out anything that might inspire enthusiastic vengefulness, and sometimes Herald would look up from her work to add her own perspective, or to suggest I tell about one thing or another. Embers told me about her own home, which was far to the north where it was cold much of the year, and about her “flock,” humans under her protection who brought her tribute, and who numbered in the thousands, if not tens of thousands. She wasn’t exactly sure. But we never stayed on any topic for long. I’d talk about how I carried Kira back from the south when I’d first captured her, and we’d slide into a discussion about flying in general. We’d talk about Nest Hearts, or “Rifts” as she called them, and it turned into talking about her favorite humans over the years, and what they’d been able to do. Of course she knew that humans could draw energy from the Hearts; she was shocked that the people here didn’t but admitted that her flock had been isolated for quite a long time, so she couldn’t say if it was supposed to be common knowledge or not.

  And we talked about my father, He Who Darkens the Night.

  I didn’t get the impression that Embers had loved him. I didn’t know if “real” dragons felt love the way humans do at all. But she had certainly liked him. Even admired him. She called him “beautiful” and “cunning” and “powerful,” and spoke of him with that same tone of regret as before.

  She may or may not have loved him, but she missed him.

  We talked until the light began to fail, as the sun met the mountains to the west. They were much smaller at the north end of the island, so it was getting late when Herald cheered and stood from her desk.

  “Done! I am done!”

  “You must be so proud,” Embers said, and I believed that she meant it.

  “I really am,” Herald said, beaming. “Now I need to brush up on my elder Tekereteki to really make this useful.”

  “Time to go, then?”

  “Yeah. But I would like to come back, if you will allow it.”

  It wasn’t clear which of us she was talking to, but Mother answered. “Oh, I make no claim to this place. That is for my daughter to decide. Though I do not think she would object to taking you back here, and I would certainly like to speak with you again.”

  Perhaps it wasn’t fair of me to be surprised, but I was. And I clearly didn’t hide it well.

  “Daughter,” Embers said, turning from Herald to me. “Little Draka. I told you before that I will not take anything that is yours. That includes this island. It was your father’s, but he is gone, and no other dragon is here to contest it. Please, have some faith in your old mother.”

  I hung my head a bit at that. “Thank you. I reckon I’m not used to anyone being stronger than me anymore. I’d certainly want to claim this city for myself.”

  “You will understand when you have children of your own,” my mother said serenely. “Though it will be some decades before you feel ready for that, I imagine.”

  And I imagined that this was not the time to tell her that me ever laying eggs wasn’t in the cards. No reason to sour a nice moment.

  “Now, I am sure you wish to be on your way. Go! Take a full day, return the day after tomorrow! Have your fun! I shall return to my nap.”

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