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Chapter 32
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Tundor was down. Obviously. Ha Ha. No wings, he thought.
The airborne dragons had fought and somehow killed the Emperor's Brother, His own mate had reduced him to a pile of ash with her fire. At the time, he had been running away, pulling a cart.
He knew it was important, but somehow it felt cowardly.
Then, because it was last minute and he couldn't fly there himself, he missed Candasar's speech at the lake where the dragons had honored Candasar and celebrated her rebirth.
It would have really been great to see those elders who had tried to kill him bowing and asking for her forgiveness. What about HIS forgiveness? Nobody had even mentioned it.
It was humiliating. Nobody seemed to give him a second thought. They didn't seem to expect much of anything from him at all. He had seemingly missed everything.
Well, he had bitten off the arm and finished that nasty elf Jontain in the barn and saved Lothinar's life. But even that had seemed to be a questionable thing to the rest of the wardens
As bad as that guy seemed to be, Tundor would have thought the elves would have been a bit more picky about having him on their team. It was very confusing. He just didn't know where he fit in.
These days, when he was confused, he went to talk to the oldest dragon he knew. That, of course, was Esmarilla.
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"I sense that you are troubled, young dragon," said the giant black.
"You are right, honored elder," Said Tundor.
"You may, of course, call me Esmarilla or 'The Great Dragon God. ' We are friends after all. "Then she laughed. It was a low, booming chuckle. Call me Esmarilla, please. Do you wish to share your thoughts, or should I guess?"
"It's just that I feel so useless, so much like a failure. I want to help, and I'm trapped in this maimed and underdeveloped body!"
"Do you not believe that I and Lothinar will restore your normal dragon body just as soon as we are able to?"
"Yes, I trust you. it's just that things are happening so fast. I'm missing so much. What if the Emperor shows up, and you all need to fight, and I'm still stuck this way?"
"Are you sorry that you missed the battle the other day? Because, honestly, you shouldn't be."
"But why? If I had been there, I would have fought! I am brave enough!
"And you would be like Harvey the brave gate guard. Dead. Smoke up the chimney. That is if we had survived to provide you a ceremony."
"You don't know that!"
"I do know that. We were very lucky. Candasar was only able to get close because Ardwynn was on her. The big elf hesitated because of that. Ardwella would not have survived another strike of that lightning. The sword absorbed much of the first attack and gave her one more chance. Even I would probably not have survived a direct hit of that monster's first blast. A one-hand half-blast killed Harvey, and a similar one almost killed Cantrell. Lothinar's magic is still out of commission. If Candasar hadn't healed him, he would have died.
"What about you? Couldn't you do it? Heal him, I mean..."
"Oh, child. Do you see me? I'm better now than I was a few days ago, but I don't think even Ardwella realizes how low my stored magic is right now. "I'm practically a grey!"
"Is that bad?"
"You have no idea. It takes very little magic to throw fire, but it does take some. When we passed over the battle, I didn't even have enough magic to attempt it. I was down to trying to grab him, and I missed"
"Grey's are dragons with almost no capacity for magic, They can be fierce physical fighters but use almost no spells. I will recover soon, but Greys never develop much magic capacity"
"Bringing Candasar back took that much out of you?"
"Nobody has ever even attempted it before" Ardwella and I could not have done it ourselves. It took all three of us and extensively relied upon a unique partial bond that I have with Lothinar because Ardwella is his mother. I participated in forming him before he was born. This activity, restoring dragons, is what he was born for. How he was specifically made.”
"Does he realize that? That you changed him? Gave him special powers?”
"I'm sure he does. If he does not speak of it, then it is because he is abnormally humble"
Candasar almost completely emptied my reserves, but Lothinar loves you like a brother. As soon as we are able we will fix you right up! Why do you think I've been eating three cows daily for a week straight?"
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"Yeah, I kind of noticed that. It is impressive!"
”They even brought me an old horse the other day. He was a little tough, but I’m currently focusing on quantity over quality. Don’t tell Albarad about that, by the way. I think he’s still worried about me eating Jamison for some reason. He’s still trying to figure out how he fits into my very long-term relationship with Ardwella. Males can get so jealous!
Tundor nodded.
Uh, Esmarilla?
Yes Tundor?
"What color dragon will I be when you fix me up? Am I a grey?"
She laughed hard at this. The noise shook the brickwork a little and a small piece broke off over by the hallway.
Esmarilla scowled and then yelled, her voice carried throughout the temple.
"Send me the old priest Womber!" Then she looked down and nuzzled Tundor affectionately.
"Don’t worry so much. You can already use magic. This you must remember from earlier when you were hunting deer."
"Yes, said Tundor, I remember"
"Do the other male dragons that you know use magic? Believe me, some definitely can,”
"They are all water types, but no". But Candasar could use magic when she was still a water type"
"Blue females are a special case. I've been trying not to be jealous of what she will eventually become"
“I’ve already had to deal with jealousy of my own with Candasar. A couple of young males have already died because they would not leave her alone.” I want to be worthy of her. That’s partly what this conversation is about.
"Don't worry, Tundor. You may not be able to see it clearly right now because, of all the colors, it is the lightest, but Tundor, you are definitely White. Just like my brother Vanador."
"That's good?"
"Yes, Tundor. My brother had the strongest magic anyone has ever seen."
"Better than blue?"
"We will have to see. In Candasar's case, she has an abnormal advantage."
"What's that?"
"A bond with Lothinar"
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Someone else had been bonding with Lothinar. As often as she could convince him to over the last several days, and that was a lot. It was a different type of bond than Candasar had formed with Lothinar. It was definitely more physically hands-on. Because of that, Ardwynn just couldn't stop walking around with a silly grin on her face.
Most wardens had decided to return to their residences in Tasumakoji. It just seemed more natural for them than staying with the humans, even as accommodating as they had been. This freed up the room Cantrell had been using to convalesce right off the courtyard. Alberad and Ardwella had been given permission to move into that room by the young priest and that had freed up the room in which they had been previously been staying. Ardwynn had quickly requested it. This afforded Lothinar and Ardwynn a great deal more privacy, and she was very grateful for that. It actually seemed to be working out better for the dragons too. It seemed that there were plenty of silly grins to go around.
Lothinar had surprised her just a day later by asking to make their arrangement permanent. Although she had previously joked about the priest in the human temple, she never expected him to remember that. She had been chasing him for so long that she hadn't really thought about what he might do when he finally caught her. It was romantic, really. He had gotten down on one knee and formally asked her to be his wife. She wasn't about to say no.
He had also presented her with a ring that had belonged to his grandfather. A simple but beautiful white gold band that Lothinar had worn on his little finger. It was something Ardwella assured her that she had given to Lothinar many years before. A mysterious family heirloom. It fit her surprisingly well on her marriage ring finger, well, at least once she wrapped a little twine around it. They could sort out a resizing later.
Lothinar had approached Starett and asked him to perform a ceremony uniting them in the temple. Ardwella and Albarath would gladly serve as the witnesses. There was a slightly hollow feeling as Ardwynn realized that of course her family wouldn't be around to see her joined. Her father's ashes were spread around in the local forest by now and it was definitely for the best that they hadn't heard from her mother and brother. Although she had met him once or twice, she had never dreamed of inviting her uncle. Ever the pragmatist, Ardwynn embraced this opportunity to start her new life with the man of her dreams.
In spite of their desire to keep it small, the ceremony ended up spilling out of the priest's office and into the main courtyard when the whole group of wardens showed up to attend and bear witness as well. They could hardly tell them no. The townspeople had again decorated the central area with flowers. It wasn't as crowded as it had been for Harvey's funeral, but surprisingly, many humans were in attendance. Ardwynn thought it might actually be that they wanted to see the dragons. The ones without flippers that could walk right up to you were still a novelty to most of them.
The McDonalds even came. Apparently, Starett had asked them to provide the food for the reception. They brought some uniformly round hot sandwiches filled with beef for the humans and some salty crisp fried potato strands served in a sweet tomato sauce for the elves. They even provided a few cows for the dragons. The elves were then introduced to something called ice cream. It was all strangely delicious.
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Early the next morning, after another night of privacy that somehow was even more rewarding than the ones before, Ardwynn and Lothinar were surprised to find Tundor sitting just outside their room. He had obviously been waiting for them. Ardwynn was getting much better at interpreting the expressions that might be available on a dragon’s face, but this morning, he had a look she hadn’t seen before.
Picking up on that immediately, Lothinar asked.
”What’s going on Tundor?”
“We have a serious problem over at the lake,” Replied the dragon.
”Candasar! What’s the matter?” Called Lothinar over the bond. He felt her self-imposed privacy barrier shatter like tinkling shards of glass
”I am over by the lake, my bond, and uninjured. Esmarilla and I were, of course, the first to arrive. We dealt with the situation. I was loathe to invade your bliss on your special night “
”What is going on?” Asked Ardwynn trying to read Lothinar’s eyes for answers.
Candasar sent him pictures of what she was seeing. Esmarilla had her front leg firmly pressed onto a figure squished almost entirely under the water and mud just off the shore. Lothinar was dismayed to see some bleeding cuts on her chest and arm. Behind the dragons, he could see at least three human guardsmen. They looked burned, although two were still moving, plastering their exposed reddened skin with cooling lake mud. Candasar herself was firmly holding down another elf on the shore just out of the water. Lothinar could actually see that one. She was squirming and cursing. Candasar was holding a large blue toenail claw against her throat.
“You will stop speaking!" Said the blue dragon
Lothinar’s heart sank as he suddenly realized that Candasar's prisoner looked far too much like his new bride.
“Let me finish her!" said another nearby voice in the speech of the water dragons. Candasar translated it for him through the bond. “It is my right. She has taken my eggs for years!” Candasar’s gaze swiveled to a large blue water dragon that was standing protectively over a nest.
”Yes, but we may be able to get some information out of them first,” replied Candasar.
“Ardwynn,” said Lothinar, “Your mother and brother are back. It looks like they were caught trying to steal some eggs”
”Oh no,” she gasped. “Are they still alive?”
”Your mother definitely appears to be. I can’t be sure about him. He’s currently mostly underwater. We had better hurry.”
”And I missed it again!” Lamented Tundor.
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