The Call of Dragons

Part 1

The Child With Nothing

1

Raiya

Raiya struggled underneath the heavy load of fabrics and silks, cursing the women they were meant for. She truly didn't understand why anyone would want to be weighed down like this when they were about to do something where running fast might save their life. It was as if they were tying heavy sacks of flour around their necks instead of the silky or velvety fabrics. If she were one of those tributes waiting to potentially Bond with a dragon, she’d sure as Geria’s hellfire wear the lightest clothes she owned. Or stick to the traditional pure white robes already designed to be exceptionally light. She’d even select the underclothes option if it was available. The lighter your clothes, the easier it was for your body to move quickly. Even she, a simple serving child, knew this and looked down upon the extravagant clothes in her arms. It’s not like one had to be super-fast anyways…just faster than the other unfortunate souls competing alongside them. Yet here she was, delivering these heavy gowns to older girls who should know better. Did they want to be paralyzed in place, not out of fear, but because they couldn’t move due to their fabrics dragging across the sands?

She giggled at the thought of those older girls unable to move as their dresses were wrapped tightly around their legs, let alone run. Trying to shuffle across and toppling over like the simple, wooden blocks she used to play with in her parents’ home when she was much younger. Getting lost in her daydream, Raiya mistook a step and stumbled, catching her footing quickly. The bundle in her arms, however, still threatened to fall onto the dirty, stone floor. She froze, slowly adjusting her hold even though her arms ached and screamed at her to just release it all and call it a day, ignoring the inner voice that said her bad thoughts caused this. She sure as dragon’s hellfire would not! She had already gotten a light beating by Ashari, the head of the servants, and she wasn't looking for another one any time soon. Her tender butt could only take so many smacks.

She continued forward, carefully watching her steps this time, eager to finish the job quickly. She didn’t understand why certain tributes requested specific garments or were even allowed to for the Hatching Ceremony, but it wasn’t her place to question it. All she had to do was safely ensure their arrival to the intended women, something Ashari said even she couldn’t mess up even if she tried to. While Raiya didn’t mind the work, she hated that she had been placed in charge of the Ioyarian* tributes who were notoriously difficult to please. Especially the woman in the first room she was heading to.

But they are also the most beautiful people to ever exist, she thought, feeling a small sense of excitement at the opportunity to see their infamous elegance and beauty up close. Beautiful, elegant, artistic, and well-mannered.

With renewed vigor, she headed to her dreaded first stop, Lady Denali Khan’s room. She was one of the five female tributes from Ioyari*, the eastern continent, and she was notoriously the most famous and difficult of them all. The rumors said her haughty and demanding nature were a result of her ancient lineage, being a member of the illustrious Khan bloodline. It came as no surprise to anyone then that Denali was one of the few that had requested a specific garment to be made for her, one that reflected her noble eastern background and bloodline. Raiya wouldn’t have had a problem with that if she wasn’t the one currently suffering underneath its suffocating weight. She was entirely sure that nearly half the weight in her arms was thanks to Denali’s specially requested red garment.

As she trudged up the last step onto the landing, she peered down the hall of the tower the Ioyarian tributes were staying on. They were, unsurprisingly, located in the eastern wing of the fortress. The windows and balconies faced towards their homeland, both to honor the tributes and perhaps calm down the more nervous ones. Denali’s door was the first one on her left. At least that is what Ashari had told her after dumping the bundle of clothes into her arms and then waving her off.

So, she tottered over to the door and kicked it precisely three times with her foot. She did her best to do it as politely as possible. If Ashari saw this blatant disregard for proper behavior and etiquette, Raiya would not only be yelled at but probably have her butt smacked again too.

“Yuh muss use yo manners gal, control yo actions. Yuh ain't no rampagin' dragon flappin' bout,” she’d probably tell her in between smacks.

It's not like I can use my hands now though when they’re full she thought sourly, shifting under the heavy weight of clothes. What on Geria was taking this lady so long anyways? Was she not in her room or was she just currently unable to answer? Just as Raiya was thinking of doing the other rooms first and circling back, the door flew open to reveal a tall, beautiful girl, probably no more than five or six years older than her if she had to guess. The girl stood in the doorway, her hand impatiently extended, glaring at her all the while. Raiya stood there, peering up at her around the mountain in her arms, wondering why the lady seemed to think she could do anything else. Quite frankly, she was expecting sympathy from her. Shouldn’t the first impulse of someone seeing a child struggle be to assist them?

"Are you going to give me my garment or just continue to stand there wasting both our time?" Denali finally snapped at her.

Raiya was shocked at the sudden anger directed towards her. As far as she was aware, she had never met this girl and didn’t understand where this instant dislike came from. If anything, she was the one annoyed over the whole “specially requested heavy garment” situation, so why was this other girl the one acting put out! Even more so, where were the manners so oft spoken in association with easterners?

"Sorry my lady. I can't really do anything, but your garment is the red one at the very top…" Look, I couldn’t even shrug at you unless I wanted this whole thing to collapse!

"Useless! Useless! Ek bekaar naukar*!" She snatched the red garment from the top and slammed the door while Raiya remained standing there in stunned silence. She was quite sure she had just been called useless three times in a row.

Slowly shaking her head, she continued her errand, not wanting to dawdle in front of the angry lady’s door. Whatever her problem was, she wanted none of it nor did she want to continue to attract her attention. Besides, the sooner she completed all her stops, the sooner her arms could fall limply to her side in relief. She could already feel a slight relief now that the heaviest garment had been removed. The silks left in her arms were light, colorful, and pleasant to the touch. She only hoped this was an indication of their owners personality.

Her next stop was Lady Su-ya Ran, another girl from a prominent bloodline. Su-ya answered the door quickly and while not as tall as Denali, she was just as beautiful with her smooth pale skin, red lips, and black hair tied into an intricate knot with a hair ornament pushed through.

“You are such a strong child!” Su-ya praised her, quickly grabbing her blue silken garment from the top. “Thank you for working so hard. Would you like to come inside, rest, and have some nokcha*?”

Raiya hesitated. She very much wanted to rest and to try out the popular eastern drink but she knew that if Ashari or even Sibilla, her adopted mother, were to get word of this, she’d be in a lot of trouble. She was not meant to inconvenience the tributes in any way, Ashari was awfully specific about this. Just drop off their belongings and move along quickly.

“Thank you but I need to finish my errand. I have many more stops,” she politely rejected, doing her best to squash the rising pout.

“And diligent as well. On behalf of Shiyama Fortress, I thank you for your help.” Su-ya smiled softly, marveling at the young child who gave a small bow before leaving immediately after. She watched as the young girl took off down the corridor, the diminishing bundle in her arms bouncing with each of her steps before gently closing her door.

Raiya quickly went down the corridor, dropping off Lady Meryem Aslan’s purple silks, Lady Linh Cai’s pink silks, and lastly Lady Ruka Radan’s green silks. All three were just as gracious and kind as Lady Ran and just as beautiful. Perhaps Lady Khan was the anomaly, the rotten egg of the batch.

With her task now complete, she sighed with relief, massaging her stiff-arm muscles as she stepped out onto the balcony. She took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air. Lady Radan’s room was the closest to the large balcony at the end of the hall and the alluring breeze summoned the girl outside.

“Do you know why we have these balconies on every floor, attached to nearly every room?” Sibilla had once asked her, holding the then much smaller Raiya’s hand. The small child shook her head, staring wide-eyed at the huge open space that led to the great, big outside. “They are staple designs in not just our fortress, but all the ones on every continent. So designed by Draggah Sumner himself. It’s so that our dragons can perch on them safely, allowing their flyers to mount and dismount near or in their rooms.”

“Like yours?” the child had asked.

Sibilla smiled, gently squeezing her hand. “Yes, little one. Like this one.”

She was drawn out of her memory by the cold steel of the balcony’s balustrade pressing against her, easily felt through the thinness of her uniform’s material. She knew she should hurry back and report to Ashari, but the outdoors called to her, the fresh air causing her blood to sing. Raiya had always, in a way, been drawn to the outdoors. Maybe it was because she had been born in a village, spending most of her time outdoors running around carelessly. Maybe it was because she liked what it represented to someone like her, freedom. The vast, open spaces that extended forever on past your sight. Or maybe it had to do with the magnificent creatures she could hear in her head sometimes.

Beyond the balcony lay the huge acres of land for the dragons of the fortress to relax on. The land was divided into various terrains, a useful accommodation not just for the dragons with various needs but also for the people who prospered off the land. There were forests, deep lakes, and plains as far as the eye could see. Raiya could see the dragons of the fortress freely moving, always a sight to behold. Cattle that were specifically food for the dragons to hunt were allowed to roam freely through the lands so that the dragons could hunt when hungry. Even now, she could see a few seeking a meal, plunging down from terrifying heights to snatch up their unsuspecting prey in their talons.

“But we should never allow them to hunt for sport.”

Her mind echoed with the words of her adopted father, Godrick.

“For if they do, it will irrevocably change their nature. They are not mindless beasts. They are intelligent beings.”

She remembered him saying this to her after complaining about how the current Chief of Dragonspire was failing to uphold this. “That son of a Gerian forsakes the Codex* yet is allowed to lead the fortress, ridiculous!”

She didn’t understand his anger until broaching the subject later with Sibilla.

“Well, sweet child. All dragons are trained from birth to hunt only for that which they will eat and never more. They are taught that greed, vanity, and excessive violence are unbecoming of their noble, exalted nature. They are taught the way of their ancestors who were revered as gods once upon a time. If they aren’t taught this, the common folk and nobles will become angry and scared. Nobody has forgotten the story of Roderick Malstrom, even if it was near a thousand years ago and most records of it destroyed during the Calamity.”

Raiya knew there was also more to it, aside from the cautionary tale of Roderick. For she had heard, during the few times she would sleep in Sibilla’s chambers, the whispered discussions between her adopted parents.

“We aren’t getting tributes or tithes like we used to. In fact, over the years that Ralph has taken over, we’ve been getting little to nothing! He continues to allow such blatant disregard for not just the Codex but the Accord* as well! He allows us to be disrespected!”

“Calm yourself Godrick. The fortresses have already been declining slowly over these last five hundred years. Ralph simply acknowledges how futile it is to fight against the Council who fear us and want us gone. With fewer dragons and even fewer Queens, the keeps and villages do not consider us a necessity anymore,” Sibilla said, her hand resting against his arm to soothe his anger. “We haven’t had an outbreak of the mysterious illness in over a hundred years after all and the scars from the Age of Calamity* still throbs deeply in the hearts of the people. Our hands are tied with where we are right now.”

“Be that as it may, how can I be calm when we rely on those tithes to provide food for the dragons. We humans can get by on the agriculture systems we have built over the centuries, but the dragons need more food than we alone can simply provide. We cannot afford to maintain them on our own. We rely on the yearly tithes of animals at the very least! Do they want the dragons to just die?”

“You already know the answer to that, my love.”

Young Raiya would continue to listen to them talk deeply late into the night, not fully understanding the conversations but knowing that it was about nothing good.

The squeal of a distant sheep meeting its death drew her eyes to the macabre scene, watching the dragon that had pinned it down devour it quickly, easily.

Would the dragons eventually turn on us if there was no food? she thought, watching the small dragon roar in triumph over its kill, the blood and gore of the sheep coating its teeth, snout, and green scales. The dragons had slowly grown smaller over the years, especially in comparison to their ancestors. No one knew why the dragons had grown smaller in size over the years, but even so, they were still formidable creatures compared to humans. If a dragon wanted to eat more than their fair share, who could really stop them? If they wanted to turn against people, what could they do? Would there even be a chance to fight against them if it ever came down to it? She didn’t know much when it came to dragons. Especially when it came to how such small creatures like humans could control the huge beasts of destruction. She had only just recently started lessons with some tutors Sibilla had assigned her on insistence. Professor Maximus had briefly mentioned the Age of Calamity, a time rife with war between continents, the common folk rebellion, the mysterious illness that plagued the common folk time and again, and the devastatingly slow recovery after it all, but he did not elaborate fully on the details. He had simply said it was a dark time where the land was covered in ash and smoke. Where people wondered if the dragons were more a curse than a blessing, a controlled weapon or a bomb waiting to explode. Whether they should continue to support the fortresses that created these devastating wars that affected the common folk more than anyone else.

She sighed, shaking her head. What good was it to think about these sorts of things and dwell on memories from five years ago? It wasn’t her concern or problem. She was only a child servant. She would have no part in the affairs of the fortress now or even grown up. Just because Sibilla and Godrick had adopted her didn’t mean that she had transformed from a commoner to a noble. She had come from a lowly village, offered up as a tithe by her parents who had looked upon her with fear and dread.

Fear of a talent that even she didn’t fully understand, dreading what may happen to them if she continued to stay.

She turned to go, not wanting to dally any more than she already had. She was sure she had wasted enough time for Ashari to yell at her, wondering why she didn't return immediately for more tasks. Just as she did so, she felt a great rush of wind overcome her, stealing her breath away and knocking her over with its force. As she lay sprawled there breathless and confused, a shadow overcame her. Its vast size instantly dwarfed the young girl’s tiny body and she looked up fearfully, staring at a dragon hovering near the balcony. It was right there, before her very eyes. She nearly fainted at the sight.

He was huge, bigger than that green dragon she had just saw, even bigger than the few she had seen up close before. She could instantly recognize him as a male dragon for he had dark-colored scales. While most common folk knew little about dragons, everyone knew the basic distinction between the males and the females. The males always had darker-colored scales while the females always had lighter-colored scales. No one knew why this was the case, but it had always been so from the beginning, and it was important to distinguish the two because one was far more ferocious than the other.

At first glance she had thought his scales to be black as the night sky, but then she noticed that the scales reflecting the light of the sun shone a beautiful midnight blue, like a sapphire gem. She felt a sudden icy chill come over her at this realization. While the common folk were unaware again of the details regarding dragons, those who lived in the fortress had to learn and understand, especially about two specific kinds: the Queens and the Princes. She recognized him because he was the only dragon with this specific coloring throughout not only Dragonspire but all the fortresses, the rarest of them all. Her eyes focused on his slender face, trying to read any sort of emotion that might be displayed there. She knew she should pay this dragon and his flyer special respect and display proper etiquette, but she was simply too stunned to move in that second.

It was only when she heard the low rumblings coming from him that she scrambled to her feet, completely fear stricken. She hurriedly backed away while bowing repeatedly. The only thing she knew about the flyer of this dragon was that he was an Ioyarian who had traveled alongside the egg when it was sent from the east nearly two years ago. She therefore hoped that by showing him respect she would be spared from his wrath. It wasn’t uncommon for servants to suffer the occasional lash-out from the nobility, sometimes for the smallest of things. Even if he was angry with her for being in the way, she was sure she could make it to the corridor before he dismounted and be safe.

"Wait!" commanded the rider, his boyish voice ringing out.

Raiya froze midway to the entrance. Dragon balls! Please leave me alone she prayed inwardly. If word of this got out…! Just because he sounded young didn’t mean anything. She had met several men who did not have deep voices and had come to believe that a voice was the greatest tool for trickery. Besides, what if he meant to feed her to his dragon? What if he was looking for some poor, unsuspecting child servant that no one would miss? She had just been thinking about the low supplies of food and whether dragons would eat their humans after all! Maybe they won’t eat their flyers, but they’d sure eat whoever their flyers commanded them to! Right?

Then, she felt him.

Even now, at ten-years-old, she still could not get used to it. The strange sensation of something other than herself inhabiting her mind, reading her thoughts and emotions, and exposing its own in return. A link of minds only meant between flyer and dragon that she intruded upon. Mirth that was not hers bubbled forward, radiating in what felt like great waves. She stood up, looking into the pair of glowing gold eyes, faceted like a topaz gem, and echoing the mirth she felt in her mind. A sudden annoyance came over her. How dare this dragon enter her mind without her permission.

‘Mind your own fiery business,’ she huffed at him. Another wave of mirth rolled over her and she resisted the urge to stomp her foot and pout. She refused to display such childish behavior publicly, regardless of if she was, in fact, still a child. But she couldn’t help the fascination she also felt in watching the eyes shift to a lighter, warm gold. Do the moods of a dragon affect its eye color?

For the sake of the human still perched on his dragon, she squeaked out a simple, “y-yes?” She could only hope that when he discovered she was but a simple serving girl, not a tribute that resided in this corridor nor even a fellow flyer, he would lose all interest and allow her to peacefully make her escape back to the kitchens. If he needed something from her, he did not in any way need to use his dragon to scare her into submission. It was already her duty to serve with no choice after all.

"Can you get that ladder by the corner? I haven’t set up a good mount and dismount situation on Nymerik yet and I'm still not big enough to climb down recklessly on my own." His sheepish admission made her wonder if he was, in fact, a young boy.

That’d be preposterous.

Surely a young boy couldn’t have Bonded with this hulking beast?! She understood they were not born this size, but honestly the Prince was a behemoth for being only one-year-old in comparison to dragons far older than him. She thought about the first Prince to ever exist, Raghun, and his rumored size of three-hundred-feet. Would this one reach a similar size?

She looked to the side, seeing a ladder leaning against a wall by the doors. She moved carefully towards the ladder, taking care not to move too quickly and startle the dragon. She didn’t need any sort of mind-reading gift to know that both the dragon and flyer must be amused by her pitiful display. Hesitantly, she turned her body to quickly grab the ladder, turning back around to witness Nymerik quietly perching on the balustrade, his glowing eyes still fixated on her.

Despite her fear and lack of knowledge, Raiya held great respect and admiration for dragons. She didn’t know where this affinity came from, only that she was able to form an understanding between herself and any dragon she happened upon. Though many dismissed them as great beasts of destruction, little more than weapons to be used, flyers and those who lived in a fortress understood differently. After Bonding with a dragon, flyers understood them to be extraordinarily complex, emotional, and intelligent beings. They often possessed a noble disposition and a righteous sense of justice. It was only natural of her to therefore envy the lucky few who Bonded with a dragon because no one, not even them, could describe the feeling. How could one describe the sheer joy and connection between flyer and dragon? Anyone would be lying if they said they didn’t want to experience that. But the only people allowed to try were those from the upper or middle classes. People like Raiya, down at the bottom of the class system, were not allowed to sully the esteemed ranks of the dragon-flyers.

"I don't mean to rush you in your thought process, but Nymerik and I have just returned from a long training flight and he is pretty hungry,” the boy impatiently called out.

“Sorry, I’ll be right there!” she called back, hurriedly dragging the ladder over. She tilted it against the dragon’s side, hoping it wouldn’t topple over the balcony if the dragon moved suddenly.

And anyways, does he not realize he is threatening me?! What does he think I am, some helpless sheep waiting to face the flying jaws of death? Her thoughts were momentarily halted by the image of what she had just described, intertwining with the images of the sheep she saw being devoured earlier.

'I'm too small to fill you up!' she sent frantically to the dragon. She could only blame her previous line of thinking before the dragon had even shown up to be the culprit for her paranoia.

‘A small snack then,’ came the reply, the voice young and soft, like a whisper in her mind.

Annoyed once again, she thought of the rude gesture she had seen some of the boys use on each other, sending it to Nymerik.

He responded with a clear image of him chomping on her and emphasized this by flashing his sharp, dagger-sized teeth. She blanched at this, backing away from the ladder quickly. She would not get near that dragon without a weapon.

“You can talk to Nymerik,” the boy suddenly said, breaking the showdown between the two. Nymerik was currently promising her that he will not eat her if she resumes helping them.

Wearily, she began to push the ladder again, reflecting on how to respond to the boy. “Yes,” she finally said. “Don’t you?” she added sarcastically. She couldn’t help it. It came from a place of resentment. Honestly, the boy should have taken one look at her and known she’d be useless! How was she supposed to do all this heavy lifting and shoving on her own? She could safely assume she was younger than him at the very least and a girl on top of that!

“Ignoring your last sarcastic remark, very few people can talk to other dragons that are not their Bonded.”

Despite his own growing annoyance with the girl, this still amazed him. He knew of only one person living in the fortress that could do this, Speaker Julian. Yet here was this girl who seemingly could do the same thing. As far as he was aware, Julian had no acolytes that he was training, nor had he received news of someone visiting from the Speakers Guild. But if he was correct about her, that might change. It all depended on what he said next.

“What do you mean?” she asked, pausing to glance up. Now that she had shoved the ladder to the end and stood on the side of the dragon, she could glimpse the boy strapped on top.

“Help me down and I’ll explain. Move aside a little, Nymerik needs to move a bit more onto the balcony.”

She stepped away, watching the elongated, muscular body slide forward. His back legs remained on the balustrade and his front legs folded downwards. He looked to be half-lying half-standing. Once he was settled, his head swiveled around to face her, watching as she carefully grabbed the ladder with both her hands. Groaning, she rotated it before lifting it up, making sure it was securely set against his side before anchoring the bottom of the ladder with her hands.

“Okay, you can come down now!” she yelled.

The boy, upon hearing this, unbuckled himself from his saddle before carefully making his way to the top of the ladder. He slowly got on, sweat beading his brow at the thought of him falling from an easy misstep. Nymerik would undoubtedly try to catch him and probably crush the girl in the process.

“Alright, here I go,” he muttered to himself. He nimbly scaled down the ladder, skipping the last few steps in favor of jumping down past the girl’s head, landing gracefully behind. “Thank you miss...” he trailed off. He suddenly realized that he didn’t know her name.

She turned to face him and froze. She recognized him. She had seen him in the dining hall and out in the barracks a few times, mostly around Godrick. She had thought of him as some sort of assistant to her father, like an apprentice. She would never have guessed him to be the one Bonded to Nymerik.

“Raiya, my name is Raiya,” she finally said. “And you honor me, Dragonlord…?” she trailed off, realizing that she too didn’t know his name. But the way he smiled made her feel shy and she forgot all about wanting to know his name.

“Thank you, Raiya.”

He extended his hand, and she hesitantly shook his, withdrawing it quickly as if she had touched something burning hot. He didn’t appear offended however, fondly gazing up at Nymerik.

“How old are you if you don’t mind my asking?” she blurted out. She desperately wanted to know because though she had seen young dragon-flyers, Bonding with a Prince was different. There had only ever been three in all of history with the last two dying five hundred years ago during the Calamity. She had to learn more about him.

He glanced at her, raising an eyebrow but not saying anything else. It dawned on her that he must be speaking to his dragon telepathically and a part of her wanted to tune in.

“Fifteen,” he finally responded. “Almost sixteen in a few months,” he added after a brief pause. “What about you? You’re quite young to be a servant.”

“I’m ten going on eleven!” she replied indignantly. “I’m almost an adult!” She didn’t say the unspoken “like you!” out loud, but he sure got the hint.

“I am an adult,” he said, smirking at the sudden pout spreading across her face as he addressed her unspoken remark. He took his time to look over her features. Almond-shaped green eyes flecked with gold, tanned skin, and a mass of wavy black hair surrounding a childish face. She wore the typical attire of a servant that hung loosely around her scrawny frame. Despite this, she carried herself well, holding her head up high to defiantly stare back at him. He realized he recognized her. He had seen her hovering around Godrick and Sibilla most of the time and often wondered about her connection with the two, not wanting to ask Godrick for fear of coming across ill-mannered and intrusive.

Meanwhile, Raiya was embarrassed at the sudden silence and intense stare accompanying it, so she didn’t dare back down and returned it, examining him in turn. His skin was sun-kissed, smooth, and hairless. His eyes were a vibrant gold and his black hair, currently tied up in a ponytail, reached his mid-back. With the length of his hair and smooth skin, she couldn't help but think he would be able to pass for a pretty girl if he dressed like one. He wore a set of riding leathers meant for an adult and thus fit him poorly. The possibility of them commissioning a new set of leathers for him was extremely low because he would outgrow them quickly. Despite the poor fit of the leathers, they still gave him a rugged air. As an easterner though, the natural ethereal beauty, grace, and elegance he possessed was alluring.

"You're pretty," she murmured, entranced by his eyes. “You’d definitely be a prettier girl than me.” She pouted, annoyed at the thought.

"Thank you, I guess?" His eyebrows rose at the last statement, but he chose not to say anything. He was sure she hadn’t meant to say it out loud. “Now, help me remove the ladder so Nymerik can head off to feed.”

They worked together, slowly lowering the ladder down before carrying it back to its original spot. She was grateful that he did most of the lifting because she had no energy to help fully. Afterwards, they both turned and stood together, watching Nymerik leap off the balcony with effortless grace before descending to the feeding grounds. Raiya found his movements to be breath-taking.

“You’re a descendant from the Gojia Kingdom,” she stated. It wasn’t a question. His eyes were the biggest giveaway. She had briefly learned about the short-lived Gojia Kingdom, founded by Cheoljeong Seo and lost fifty years later under his son’s reign. All people from the direct Seo bloodline possessed full gold eyes while others that had once lived there had gold specks. “And your eyes are completely gold, which means you're a direct descendant. A Seo.”

The boy found himself interested in the astute observations this serving girl was casually saying. He had considered her to be uneducated and childish, assumptions based on her age and status, but now he realized he should have known better than to judge a book by its cover. But he refused to confirm or deny her statements, instead changing the topic to something he knew she’d find more interesting.

"So, you can talk to all dragons, right?" he asked after a while, turning to face Raiya. “Not just Nymerik?”

Raiya frowned, disliking the fact that he had been silent all this time in the face of her observations to simply bring up a different subject. She was trying to learn more about the boy but felt like she was the one giving away all her information. After a moment’s deliberation, she finally responded with, “Yes, I can talk to all dragons. I’ve been able to do it for as long as I can remember.” If Sibilla or Godrick found out she was telling people about this despite them forbidding her from doing it… “Please don’t tell anyone about this.”

He did his best to contain his excitement, not wanting to frighten the girl. “Of course, I won’t. I’m just curious because you don’t appear to be an acolyte since you’re wearing servant clothes and now it seems you don’t want people to know about what you can do. By the way, do you know about Speakers? The Speakers Guild?”

“Does it have to do with Speaker Julian?” she asked, tilting her head, and thinking back to anything she might have read on the topic.

“Yes! In a way. But if you don’t really know what a Speaker is aside from knowing it has something to do with Speaker Julian, that means you’re also not from the Speakers Guild either. So, my question to you is, why are you just wasting your talent and doing servant-y things instead of training to be a Speaker?”

"'Servant-y things?'" Raiya repeated and then giggled at the made-up word.

He couldn’t help but flush at her tease. This only made her giggle turn into a full-blown laugh. Before he knew it, she was clutching her stomach, tears beginning to leak out of her eyes.

“Oh, come on,” he huffed. “It wasn’t that funny.”

The tears streaming down her cheeks and the sharp pain in her stomach disagreed with him.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she finally said when she could breathe. “You’re right, I don’t know what a Speaker is, but I do know Speaker Julian who is on the Council. Does that mean it’s a position? The Speakers Guild trains people to become Speakers I’m guessing.”

Raiya had met Julian many times. Though they had never exchanged more than a polite greeting to one another, she was aware of his existence. She didn’t quite know what he did in the fortress but she did know he was on the Council with Sibilla, liked to inhabit the library, and trailed after Dragonlady Iva. That was about it. No one bothered to explain to her the important duties of the high-ranking people in the fortress and she wasn’t really interested in learning about them either.

He sighed, scratching his head. He didn’t know all the intricate details himself, but maybe he knew enough to give her a rough idea and a potential push. "I guess, yes. From what I know, Speakers are people who were born with the ability to talk to all dragons. They have a strong psychic sensitivity so to speak. As acolytes, a master Speaker formerly trains them. Afterwards, they get sent to a fortress and act as an advisor. Like the other people on the councils. If there’s no room on the councils, they stay at their guild hall until they’re needed.”

It began to make sense to Raiya. Having someone who could listen to and communicate with all dragons seemed useful and this sparked her interest. She wondered if perhaps she might be able to learn more about them, especially since she shared this talent, gift, or whatever they called it with them. Would there be books about it? Maybe she should ambush Julian in the library and ask. He wouldn't mind, right?

The boy carefully watched her reaction. If he had done this correctly, the next time he saw her she might be in acolyte robes. He hoped for her sake that she did take advantage of the knowledge. He would be quite content with knowing he was the steppingstone up for her. It was in his nature to help people out if he could after all. But most importantly the gratitude she might feel and the need to fulfill a request of his… He hadn’t forgotten what he was tasked with, and he might need a Speaker in debt to him.

"Anyways, thanks for your help. It's hard to get off Nymerik now but after I finish growing, everything will be easier."

His attempt at saving face with that charming smile was duly noted by her. The boy was nearly an adult and still struggled with climbing down, but she couldn’t truly fault him. Plus, whenever he sent that charming smile her way, the shyness returned, and she fidgeted under his gaze. Then, he bowed formally towards her before walking quickly out the balcony and down the corridor. Raiya wanted to cry out after him, begging him to never do that again. No matter what, no one should be bowing to her and if anyone had seen…!

But she didn’t. She watched him walk up to Denali’s door, knock, and then be allowed in immediately. Curiously, she wondered about the connection between the two aside from both being Ioyarians. Friends that grew up in the same area maybe? Study buddies? Maybe even…together together? Her imagination could only run wild.

Then, she remembered something.

She had freely given him her name without a second thought, but she hadn’t pushed for his, shying away at his easy-going smile.

“Until next time then, dragonlord,” she said aloud, feeling a bit forlorn standing there alone.