I deliberately did not invite myself to anyone else’s dreams that night. The decision made me embarrassingly aware that I’d never actually visited Herald or Mak like that; I’d only ever peeked on Herald’s dreams, and Mak’s sleep schedule had been a mess for such a long time that it was only recently that she would reliably be asleep while I might be dreamwalking. With the limitless possibilities of a shared lucid dream it would be nice, some night, to go and just have fun with them.
But not that night. I didn’t want to keep pushing; I’d wanted to talk to Tammy and Zabra, yes, but a big part of why I was dreamwalking at all was to see if having almost three Hearts in me made any difference. So far it didn’t seem like it, so I needed to leave it there and see how much Heart I had left when I woke.
With regret I let the lucid dream fade away. According to my internal clock I woke sometime before sunrise. I quickly felt inside myself and found that I was still in possession of quite a lot of energy. If I were to estimate, compared to when I went to sleep, I’d say that almost exactly one Heart’s worth had been spent.
So, what did that tell me? Well, it seemed like there was an activation cost of one Heart to go dreamwalking. That was important to know insofar as it told me that I could get my fill of Hearts, and not need to worry about wasting them all if I went dreaming a single time.
I also hadn’t noticed any difference at all inside the dream. It didn’t seem to matter how much Heart I had available, as long as I could trigger the power. Maybe there was some way to use more, either while I triggered a dreamwalk or during it, but it was good to know what the minimum cost was, and what that got me.
The next thing to test was to fill up on Hearts again, and then push a dreamwalk as far as I could. I should try to see if there was any way to spend more energy to either prolong the walk, or to make it somehow more powerful. I couldn’t picture what that might mean, but there were a lot of things I could do that I hadn’t expected, so I was trying not to make too many assumptions.
By the time I returned to the inn the sun was well above the horizon. Although the world got brighter, I was the only one in Karakan who actually got to see the sun, flying high above the clouds where it peeked down through breaks in the higher layers. Returning so late wasn’t just me being lazy — I put it off deliberately. I was pretty sure that Mak woke up whenever I got near, probably out of some implanted instinct to make herself useful, and I didn’t want to wake her now that she was sleeping properly again.
Once I was there, and my little family had joined me in the cellar, I told them the news from Tammy: that the Happaran soldiers expected Tekeretek to officially join the war. As soon as the words left my mouth the atmosphere in the room grew dark and heavy. At first I figured that it was the natural worry of the enemy getting stronger, and what that might mean; it took a little while before I realized what a damn idiot I was being. My adopted siblings were very visibly Tekereteki, if only by birth. I’d been so caught up in everything with the Night Blossom and getting in good with the council that I’d somehow lost sight of the fact that the people who were most important to me were a discriminated minority. I never saw them interact with regular, average citizens, but I’d been told that them being Tekereteki was enough for the inn to have lost a decent chunk of business ever since they bought it. How much worse could things get if Tekeretek actually joined the war?
When I asked them just that, Herald just muttered something inaudible and walked off, with Tam following her and Val following Tam. Mak answered the question simply. “Bad. We’ll need to be careful if we go out. But we survived the last one, and we were in a much weaker position then, so…” Then she exhaled heavily and slumped. “But, yeah. It’s going to be bad.”
“You’ll get through it,” I told her. I had no doubt that they would, and I tried to focus on that feeling, to really let my confidence shine for her. But from her demeanor I could tell that the whole thing was just another reminder that no matter what their station might be, the city at large had never really accepted them. “I guess you all need some time to digest this, and maybe talk to Herald, but can you send a message to Sempralia? The council needs to know. ‘Strong reasons to believe,’ that kind of tone?”
She rose, nodding. “I’ll take care of it.”
It ended up being a long, slow day. Usually, one of the benefits of the constant rains was that people only went outside if they had to, so all of my favorite people were around most of the time. But with the news everyone seemed to be trying to keep busy, doing whatever work was available.
I left them alone. Except, that is, for Tam and Kira. I had a different distraction for them: I wanted to put the next part of my experiments with the Nest Hearts into motion.
It was quite simple, really. I knew that Herald and Mak could absorb Nest Hearts. Not a whole one, but some, and that was more than we’d ever expected. And I had two more magic users available to me: Tam and Kira. I needed to find out if they could do the same.
Of course, if I told Kira to come with me into the forest, she would. She literally couldn’t refuse me. Even if I phrased it very carefully, asking if she’d like to come with me, she still might agree, since my hold on her made her generally agreeable towards anything I wanted. So to avoid simply bulldozing her, and to make sure that she was actually okay with coming with me into the rainy sky, I needed to come at the problem sideways.
I’d squeezed myself into the strongroom — the corridor was slowly becoming a real problem — and asked Mak to tell Kira that I’d like to talk with her when she had a moment. Kira, of course, came immediately.
“These rains sure are something,” I said, trying not to express any opinion at all about whether this was good or bad.
“They really are!” Kira responded with surprising enthusiasm. “We never had rains like these back home. We had heavy rain sometimes, of course, but only for a day at most. If it rained for a few days it would be much lighter, and off and on. Nothing like this. I think the City gets rains like this, though.”
“Do you like them, then?”
“I haven’t had to deal with them for long enough to hate them,” she laughed. “And everyone who grew up with them seems to take them as just a fact of life. But for now… yes. I’m enjoying the novelty, I suppose. Though I always did enjoy the rain.”
“Oh, yeah? That’s nice. Hey, did Herald and Mak talk to you about what we did with the Nest Hearts?”
“Oh, they did, yes! Amazing! I was surprised when I heard that you could eat Nest Hearts, but, well, you’re you. There is nothing about you that isn’t new, curious, fantastic, or astounding.”
I preened under her flattery. Was I always so weak to compliments? I didn’t think so.
She continued. “But to hear that first Herald, and now Mak, could do the same? I wouldn’t believe it if I’d heard it from anyone else.”
“It makes all their minors stronger, you know that? And it made Herald’s magic easier to use. We haven’t been able to test if it helps Mak’s magic, though. Don’t want to hurt someone just to try it out.”
“I appreciate that. Even if I wasn’t involved, I wouldn’t like to know that you were doing something like that. But I see the problem.”
“Yeah. We’ll just have to keep her full until an opportunity presents itself.”
“Still, though, even if it’s just the minors, that’s so interesting.” She laughed, and added, “I wonder what it would do for me? Would I be able to instantly know what was wrong with someone, and how to treat it? And what about, you know, my third minor?”
“The childbearing one?”
She blushed, but kept smiling. “Yes. It’s already supposed to make my pregnancies healthy, and births safe and comparatively easy. Imagine if I had a much more powerful version! I’d carry heroes in my belly, and they’d just, Woop!” She laughed and mimed a baby just falling out of her. “I wouldn’t mind that, I can tell you!”
Slightly sidetracked, I asked, “Are you… you and Ardek, are you, ah, working on that?”
“On…? On making babies? Well, I mean… We’re going through the motions.” She looked away, embarrassed. “But Ardek’s been getting me a tea to make sure nothing takes root. Mak was so surprised when she asked me about it! She never expected Ardek to be the one to take care of that. He’s very responsible, you know? Good with those kids he takes care of, too, but it’s a little early for us to commit to a child. Is that something… you…?”
“What? No! No, that’s all up to you!” I blurted, near panic that she might take my awkward question as a command. “Whenever you’re ready, with whoever you want! Or never! All you! No, no, I, uh— would you like to come fly with me, and try to absorb a Heart?”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Smooth, Draka, I groaned inwardly. Conscience was laughing at me. Real smooth.
Kira looked equal parts relieved and disappointed. “Oh! Good! Good. Like I said: not quite there yet, Ardek and I. And yes, I would love to do that, so long as you promise to hold on to me very tightly when we fly.”
“You don't want to go on my back?”
“I’d prefer not to?” She asked that like she was asking my permission, discomfort at the idea radiating from her. “It’s just, I’m not sure that I could hold on well enough, and last time I felt safe when you held me, and—”
“I can hold you. No worries!”
“Thank you! When should I be ready?”
“I was thinking tomorrow morning, after a good breakfast. Make sure you have warm clothes and rain gear; Herald and Mak can help you with that. And I need to talk to Tam, too. I’d like him to come along.”
Kira brightened at that. “Really? That should be fun! I like Tam, but we never spend much time together.”
“He’s a likable guy! Is he in, do you know?”
“Don’t think so, no. He left with Val a little after you came back, to talk to some wine merchant.”
----------------------------------------
“You wan’ me to go flying? That sounds… yeah, I dunno.”
It was a few hours later. Tam and Val were back and had joined me in the cellar. Meeting with wine merchants apparently involved quite a lot of sampling the wares; it wasn’t even evening yet, and Tam was pissed. Val was sober enough. He was still relaxed enough compared to his normal stoic self that I knew he’d done some sampling, himself, but I’d trust him to be responsible. Tam, though? I wasn’t sure if there was even any point to talking with him.
“Oh, come on! It’s fun!” I tried. “And you’ll see so far!”
“Goddamn thousand feet up though.”
“Above a few hundred feet it doesn’t matter how high you are.”
“I think you should do it!” Val said cheerfully. “Few have been allowed to fly with Draka. Herald, Mak, Kira… a few others. All still alive!”
“Mak pissed ‘erself though.”
“She did not piss herself!” I objected. “I would have been able to tell, unfortunately. She did have some… strong reactions to flying the first time, but she got used to it. And, again, she did not piss herself. Don’t talk about your sister like that.”
“Why me, though? Val likes th’idea. Take him up!”
“I do not have any magic, my love,” Val said gently. “Remember? She wants you to try to absorb some of the Nest Heart, like Mak or Herald. It will be good to know if someone can do it who is not… connected to Draka, the way they are.”
“Oh.” Tam looked thoughtfully from Val to me, then back. “She say that?”
“She did. Right at the beginning.”
“When?”
“Right at the beginning,” Val said with a very, very light sigh. “After Kira told us that Draka wanted to talk to us, and we came down here. Draka told us that she wants you to come along with her and Kira to protect them if Draka falls unconscious, and to test if you can absorb energy from the Hearts.”
“She said that?”
“Yes, she did.”
“Oh. Soun’s like a good idea!”
“I think so.”
“She flies so high, though.”
“I can fly lower,” I offered, knowing that it wouldn’t make any damn difference if he did fall off.
“Thank you,” I told Val a little later. We’d gone around once or twice before Tam agreed, with Val doing most of the convincing. Tam had then promptly gone to sleep, his head in Val’s lap. “He’s going to need warm clothes and good rain gear. Can I ask you to take care of it?”
“Of course, Draka,” he said, a contented smile on his face as he stroked his lover’s hair.
“Hey, Val, listen, yeah? Once the rain lets up, do you want to come up, too? Maybe both of you, if Tam likes it? I could take you up into the mountains, to the coast, or we could just fly around. Anything really.”
“There would be great pleasure in that, I think. Unless,” he laughed, “I piss myself!”
“I doubt it. You’d be the first so far. Well… except Simdal, but he really didn’t want to come with me. And I snatched him off the street in the middle of the night, so…”
Val snorted. “So, this offer to take me flying. Is it just out of gratitude?”
“I mean, it’s a bit that. But we’ve barely spent any time together, just the three of us. There was that time right at the start, when me and Herald came to get you three out of those tunnels, and we spent that talking about the girls. And then there’s been once or twice here, since you bought the inn. But that’s it, yeah? I’ve spent more time with Garal and Lalia at this point, and I’d like to get to know you two better.”
“That’s very sweet of you. Come! Come!” Val leaned back, stretched out his hand and waved me in. When I got close he started scratching around the base of my horns. “Is this all right? You like this?”
“Oh, yeah,” I groaned happily.
He kept scratching. “I just thought about how we rarely touch each other. Less than we talk.”
“Mmm-hm.
“I’m going to take a nap now.”
“Yeah.” I put my head next to Tam’s on his lap, as he kept scratching. “Me too.”
----------------------------------------
Tam, when he’d sobered up, wasn’t sure exactly what he’d agreed to, or why. But when Val insisted that he’d promised to come with me and Kira, he didn’t argue. He cursed the wine merchant for serving them “herbed wine,” asked Mak if they could please buy a barrel or two, and went to pack his gear.
We left early the next morning, after spending a good chunk of time in the cellar with Tam finding a position on my back where he was comfortable that he wouldn’t fall off. He ended up with the exact same solution as Herald and Darim, the army sentry I’d taken flying down south: Arms locked around my neck, legs — or just feet, in Tam’s case — nestled in my hips. It seemed obvious to me, but he’d tried sitting up at first, with his legs in front of my wings, which was just… he might have been joking. I certainly hoped so. Either way I didn’t mind much, as long as he felt at least mostly safe.
“All right, let’s go!” Tam’s voice held far more bravado than confidence, but it would have to do.
Val opened the cellar doors, and Kira stepped out into pouring rain, with her arms out for me to grab her. It was the same pose as the first time I’d taken her into the air, two months before. Then she’d been screaming, certain that she was about to die. The last time she’d flown was when I took her from the mountain to the city, and then she’d almost begrudgingly admitted that it could be pleasant when you weren’t actively fearing for your life. Now she was perfectly relaxed, waiting for me to take her, trusting me to keep her safe, and I treasured that trust. The gasp when I grabbed her and took off was even followed by a little laugh.
Whether Tam remembered or not, I decided to stay true to my word. For his sake I stayed at around three hundred feet, low enough that no one looking up could possibly miss me, unless the rain blinded them. Tam was the tense, silent kind of first-time flier. His body was rigid, and he kept a death grip around my neck for the first several minutes, only loosening up a little bit as we cruised above the forest.
“Gods, is that the lake?” he shouted as we approached that very place.
“Yeah! That’s about the half-way mark!”
“How fast are we going? That’s a day’s trip on foot!”
“About fifty miles per hour.”
“Gods and Mercies, Draka!”
“I can go quite a bit faster, but it gets seriously uncomfortable for any passengers, even without the rain. Except for Herald, I guess. She just cheers louder the faster I go!”
That released another bit of tension in Tam. I couldn’t hear it, but with his chest pressed against my back it felt like he was laughing.
“My sister is a wonderful kind of crazy! When Lalia was teaching her to ride, do you know what she did the first time she got the reins? She pushed poor Melon into a gallop! Melon’s steadier that she is fast, but still! That girl has always loved going fast!”
“I can believe it!”
Once we reached what I thought of as the frontier, the meandering, invisible line that ran between the most southern Nest Hearts, I started looking for a likely one. Same rules as always: No camp around it, an open place nearby to land without endangering my passengers, and no sign of anything big and dangerous making a habit of visiting it. It didn’t take too long before I found a likely one, but Tam got a bad feeling about it. I skipped it, and we went for the next one that fit our needs.
I wasn’t sure what those Hearts actually did. Herald and Mak seemed to think that they didn’t spawn anything at all, and just existed to give off some kind of mutating radiation that created animals with advancements, also known as monsters. I thought it would probably be worth hanging around one for a day or two to see if anything happened, but I couldn’t very well do that when I had two humans with me. It was even money whether pneumonia or boredom would kill them faster.
“All right! Who wants to go first?” I said cheerfully as we stood a few feet from the Nest Heart. I looked at Kira to make sure that she understood my slow, careful Karakani, but I wasn’t sure if she was even listening. Kira’s eyes were huge with wonder; she’d never actually seen a Heart before, and I knew myself how impossible they looked when you weren’t used to them.
“I’ll try!” Tam sounded game, now that he was on the ground again. “I practiced on a lightstone all through the morning meal. It’s pretty much the same, yeah?”
“More or less, yeah!” I agreed. “Just stick your hand in there, and try to draw the energy out of it.”
“Right.” He sounded a lot less confident when the subject of sticking his hand in the swirling rift came up. “Any chance I could have you come with me?”
“You need an emotional support dragon?”
“Don’t flatter yourself! You’re a portable pavilion right now, and I’d rather not get any wetter than I already am.”
“I ought to refuse on principle,” I muttered, but I moved up with him anyway. Kira silently came with us, staying under the canopy of my wings.
It was time to see how universal this ability to absorb Nest Hearts was.