Preservation Ch 3
Imported from SF2 with no description.
Chapter 3
SeraphiAntaaranaov 13, third century, Etassus 39651Home
Here, Kyshara. You seem studious enough for this that I know you'll take care of it for me. Goodness knows I've abused that old journal for far too long. Careful! I should think you would realize how old it is. Go on, read… no, go to… ah… go to the first one that reads to second century, please. It's just about the last entry; I had a new journal after that.
Antaaranil 1, second century, Etassus 39414
Second Century ?twenty-eight days ago, a little more than a full month? was both a joyful day and one of sorrow. While it is both my pride and disappointment that Jasik and I, now Temethran initiates, were the only two to stand for anyone, it is also worrying that the others have regressed so far to an uncaring state, and it couldn't have been a good message to those who were not aided with a path from their bloodless roles.
As for Tarinth, well… she's recovering. Slowly. She sleeps, most of the time. At least she was allowed to stay in my new building as a servant, just like Marek has for Jasik next door. I think it hurts her each day to see me leave most days for training, and I fear how she will take it when we are sent out on our first military assignments. Sometimes I fear those, too. But our instructor Aurash'Temethran, that gold dragon I met, has assured us that it won't be as dangerous as we're afraid of sometimes. I really hope that's true.
Thank you, Kyshara. You did well.
I jolted awake as a paw prodded me in the side. I groaned, not wanting to be awake yet. But it wasn't as though I had a choice; Jas would just keep on bothering me.
Prod. Ow.
“Okay, 'mm up," I muttered, rolling to my feet. I flexed the wing I had slept on, trying to make up for in a few short motions the loss of blood flow in it. My eyes were still closed as I groped for the edge of a counter I knew I would run into while I stretched, popping my back and neck a few times. After several resounding cracks, I stood up straight, and opened my eyes. Blurrily opening my eyes, I saw a pair of golden paws. Then my vision cleared. Uh oh.
“A-aurash…" My eyes widened. “Temethran. Sir!"
What followed was several embarrassing minutes of me attempting to snap to attention ?wings flared slightly, head straight, tail still and curled. I only managed to fumble around for a short while and generally make a fool of myself. The golden dragon chuckled.
“Seraphi, I should think you of all dragons should have figured out by now, I'm not big on formality. Were I here only on official business, you'd have had a chance to wake up." When I didn't respond, he sighed, exasperated. “Excused," he said, and I relaxed, a thin smile forming on my face.
“Just a habit," I muttered sheepishly. Then, curious, I padded up to his side.
“So what brings you here? I'm surprised that you came all the way into this near-empty sector… and up to my level." I grinned, as it was one of the few times the older dragon was ever scared. My words made him glare at me sharply. Then with a sigh, Aurash padded to the open balcony on the ceiling-scraper of a building we had been housed in.
I always loved that balcony. What with seventy floors of free-fall between me and the cavern bottom, it was a surprise Aurash ever visited. Apparently, as my training group rumored, any height off the ground while in a building and Aurash began to lose his midday meal.
Hmm. Come to think of it, maybe that was his reason for turning green once he made the mistake of peering over the edge. But it wasn't that he had a fear of heights; he could fly just fine. For whatever reason, though, he became ill when he stood by the edge of any drop to the expansive cavern floor.
“It's about your place in my Wing, Seraphi."
The grin was wiped from my muzzle in an instant. “What?"
“The baseline tests recorded you as quick, quiet, light on your feet ?Ancestors, I've never seen someone pass most of the stealth challenges without triggering even the first alarm. But you've lost that drive recently, almost as though you aren't trying." He gave me a hard glance. “I need to know you're ready for what's next, and if you'll pick up the slack."
I was stunned. Had I really slowed down that much? Certainly caring for Tarinth the last few days as she had fallen sick had drained me. Briefly, I wondered if I had fallen sick as well. That wouldn't do…
I straightened. “I'll do my best," I assured him.
It was easy to tell that relieved my trainer. Aurash's wings, tensed and drawn, slacked just slightly. His eye-ridges unfurrowed and he had a sideways grin on his face. He cocked his head, beckoning me to his side.
“Good. Then I simply have to ask: are you going to join the rest of our training group to celebrate?"
I glanced over to him apprehensively. “Why don't I like where this is going?"
Aurash just laughed. “It's nothing like you're thinking," he assured me. “It's just that at the end of the first month of training, all of my friends and I congratulate those who passed the first twenty-four days. And," he added, eyes gleaming, “all of my group made it. It's just something we trainers do, to endear ourselves before the real training starts."
It was a relief we had all made it, given that Jas and a few other dragons I had come to like were in my group.
“So," I said, “it's a celebration to keep us from rebelling."
“And to make sure you can work with the other heritages," he reminded me. “Everything is a test, when you grow up, even socializing."
Ah. Yes. So there were probably going to be a few bookish Haraash in the corner, some Versoth show-offs, and maybe a few of my friends in Temethran and Salym. But overall, it sounded like a great celebration so long as there wasn't too many rules.
It sounded fine to me, but I had one question. “Can Tarinth come along with us?"
Aurash hesitated. “Seraphi… in the sixty Etassa I have taught, there's never been someone who's vouched for one of the rejected dragons. The only reason the elders ask anymore is because it's a formality. The failures in our society pick up the less pleasant jobs, and we're free to live life to the fullest we can in this place of war."
Now I was getting angry. “Silence!" I hissed, digging my claws into the soft stone ground. “ While you are in my home, trainer or no, you will not insult them." I paused, then added more forcefully, “More importantly, you will not insult her."
I turned away from him, a little more than slightly startled and scared by myself. Where had that come from? Aurash was my trainer, devoted to teaching me survival skills and honing my combat techniques ?keeping me alive? and I was attacking him? And what was more, he was also a friend of mine, the one who had cared for all of us.
I pivoted once more. “Aurash look?"
He regarded me with a guarded look. “I think I understand just fine," he said. “You have a friend who didn't pass. But what you must understand, Seraphi, is that most of our grand city will reject her for one day's fate, not of her actions on a whole. She cannot come."
Then maybe our city isn't so grand, I thought vehemently, but kept it to myself.
That kept me silent for a moment. As I deliberated, a reassuring, almost paternal smile reemerged on Aurash's golden visage. Then he stepped to the balcony edge, spread his wings, and with a brief farewell nod he was sailing through the air once more.
A few minutes later, after collecting my thoughts, I padded to the side of the housing complex I left for Tarinth. Overall, I mused as I wandered through the halls, she really had the better half of the apartment.
Not that that was a problem to me, of course. In all honesty the emptier the room was the easier it was for me to focus. Tarinth was just the opposite. So, my half of the home was empty apart from a few journal materials, a small fruit supply, and a pile of furs to sleep on at night. Plants, some of the more abstract art, even the sculptures… Tarinth probably had trouble touching the floor through all of the furs and a few antique human-made things. What did they call them? Ah, yes… furniture. Custom built, too? and older than I was, made for whoever had lived there previously. I had no idea where the previous inhabitant had gotten all of the things. I also tried hard not to think about what had happened to the previous inhabitant.
“Tarinth?" I called, hoping she wasn't asleep. If anything that dragoness could sleep through the fall of the city and having been run through by an entire cavalry charge.
I wandered through the dark hallways. It wasn't as though I expected them to be lit; it was rather difficult to sleep when there was a torch or two shining in your sleeping cavern. And chandeliers? Forget sleep at all.
I found Tarinth in just about the furthest corner of the building, curled into a ball atop a pile of furs. I had almost mistaken her for one of the plant displays that she preferred to keep despite the troubles of watering them while living in a completely barren, lifeless cavern.
“Tarinth?" I said, prodding the pile of emerald scales. It shifted slightly, and I could then see distinguishable traits? a head, tail, smooth wings. Tarinth yawned, blinking blearily, then looked at me, not quite awake yet. Still, it was good she had actually bothered to stand for once.
“Mm… What did you need, Seraphi?" Tarinth mumbled. She stretched, then padded out to my side. She still looked slightly paler than normal, but that was a given after her ordeal. Dragons didn't fall ill often, but when they did it was often quite serious; whatever had been in the mud had not agreed with her injuries during the tests.
I rustled my wings restlessly. I wasn't sure how I would get Tarinth to go outside if she wasn't willing, and after a week straight without stepping foot outside the compound she really needed to stretch her wings if only for exercise.
“Nice day outside," I ventured.
Tarinth looked at me shrewdly. “What is it, Seraphi?" she asked with a sigh.
Yep. She was on to me.
I glanced away, embarrassed. “Want to go for a flight? There's actually sunlight coming in from one of the tunnels," I added. Tarinth always had loved the tiny glimpses of the outside world, and it would do her good to exercise.
Tarinth's head perked up at that. She stretched again, then fell in step beside me as I padded back out of the maze of furniture and art.
At the balcony Tarinth turned to me. She looked particularly unnerved today, as well.
“Look, Seraphi… maybe it's best if you go alone." Tarinth looked away in some odd shame, her crests flattened and flushed.
I tilted my head. “Why?"
“I don't want to embarrass you, or give you the wrong look. It'd be hardly fitting if you had to fly alongside me."
I sighed. This was the response I had heard from her several times over the past few days when I had tried the same request. Still, I was nothing if not persistent.
“Tarinth," I said gently, “Who asked you to come with me?"
She glanced up, but only for a moment. “You did," Tarinth muttered.
“And who could have simply left you to go out on my own?"
Her eyes met mine once more. “You could have…"
“So why did I ask you to come with me?"
Right, Kyshara. That's exactly what I heard from Tarinth.
“Because you're my friend."
I gave her a praising look, and for once she saw it rather than the ground. It seemed to make her a bit more like her old self, lifting her spirits somewhat. Then I spread my azure sails, Tarinth mirroring me, and we both leapt into the skies.
It wasn't surprising to see so many dragons swirling around the light. From one of the many tunnels there was finally a single beam of sunshine. They appeared from time to time, and they were the only way to safely bask in the sun, something all dragons enjoyed. Already the cavern floor seemed to be a living patchwork of scale and wings.
Some of the higher positioned Versoth guards were sweeping lazy circles around the entrance, ensuring that none of the younger dragons tried to go aboveground and give away a second entrance into the mountain. That was certainly nothing I had ever done. Ever. The aboveground was quite spectacular when I had seen it for the first time, though.
The look of wonder on Tarinth's visage when she saw that sunbeam was one I never thought I would see again. As we neared that warm gleam, a faint smile began in the corner of her muzzle and spread across her mouth like wildfire. Tarinth caught me watching her but there must have been a smile playing across my face as well, for she only seemed happier. For the first time in eight days, Tarinth needed no help to try to rebuild her life. For the first time in a week, she could be happy without that joy being from my training experiences.
Suddenly I was alone in the skies as she veered off on her own path. Peering after her, I saw Jasik and his underwing were out as well. I was happy to see that the both of them were pleasantly surprised at finding her out and about. Jasik called out a greeting to her, then turned his gaze farther upward, picking me out from his position on the ground and nodding approvingly. I returned the gesture, understanding his amused look. You never could give up on anyone, Seraphi, he seemed to tell me.
At that point a feeling of joy burst across my chest. It was a small step to get Tarinth to meet friends but progress ?any progress? was all I could hope for. No longer wanting to be by myself even on the pleasantly warm currents I glided through, I tilted into a dive, flaring my wings at the last moment to land before them.
As soon as I landed all three tried to greet me, but even having been part of a crowd far less organized it was still nonsensical then. I heard snippets of my name and questions, and some greetings, but couldn't make horns or tails of any of it.
I just laughed it off. “Not sure what that was, but hi to everyone else too." I peered around for a moment. Then, in one of my finest moments, I asked, “Lots of dragons here today, aren't there?"
Jasik just laughed as well. “Observant as ever," he teased. Still, his eyes flicked upwards again, then he nodded again, this time in agreement.
While I wasn't about to let one shot at me go unavenged, I wasn't about to let it ruin my evening, either.
I spoke up first. “So what're we going to do? Let's leave the basking to the elders." Which was true enough; nearly all of the dragons laying on the stone were at least a century to two older than us, enjoying the warmth on their bones which was for once natural sunlight rather than their own fire.
Tarinth was the first to reply. “Anyone up for a race?" she asked excitedly. I could see it was forced, but even if she was faking her happiness it was better than nothing.
Jasik flexed his wings, tensing in the anticipation. He knew as well as I did that declining was to be ridiculed beyond belief.
With a trumpeting roar I leapt first into the air, flying as fast as possible around the leading bend in the sunbeam. The others weren't slow to start, either. Behind me, I could vaguely hear an extra two pair of wingbeats every few seconds. As for the third…
Wait. Where was…
I gasped, losing my rhythm as Jasik swooped past me, shooting me a grin as he did so. He shot around the second bend in the cavern, then lazily did a few rolls through the air to show his superiority. It was just as well that he was normally a faster flier than me. I could beat him at anything else, but was I mean enough to take his dignity at flying too?
“I still can't believe you got that much faster," Jasik grumbled as Marek finally caught up from last place with an only slightly exaggerated gasp. spinning in a dizzy circle, he flopped to the ground, panting. Tarinth laughed ?giggled, really? as she lay down beside him, winded as well.
I laughed. “What's the matter Jas, afraid you'll never win anything ever again?" I tilted my head. “Or maybe it's just that you can't seem to get any attention while we're exercising…"
“It's not my fault Aurash has some special interest with you," Jasik retorted, smirking.
I glared at him, hard. “No, it just isn't my fault all you other recruits are so bad, and that I'm learning faster, You know he cares for all of us." But I also refrained from speaking of his visit that morning.
Jasik tilted his head. “Yeah, I guess he does look out for us, doesn't he?"
“That's a dangerous thing to say, Jas," I said sharply. “You know what happened to the last trainer who tried to favor their squad. You keep saying something like that, and he'll get punished, and likely the rest of us will as well, before they think to ask what you meant."
We circled the area a few more times after everyone had rested, then landed to catch some of the last few rays of light before the sun passed the chasm of a tunnel by. As the light faded, Tarinth sighed, inclining her head to me gratefully.
“Thanks, Seraphi. I guess I really did need to get out and about for at least a little while."
I shrugged, though a warmth spread through me then. “What are friends for?" I replied.