1.5

Jewel was going to miss her brother, but she was so proud of him for having earned his bond to a gryphon.

That he would be able to follow father in being a Gryphon lord.

That in the years to come she would be able to share with him the joys of flight.

But today they would have to part.

Of the seven eggs laid by Honeydown, only five were bonded to aspirant riders (Alexander included).

For the next four days after his acceptance, there were no more exercises for the potential riders. They stayed in the eyrie in anticipation of the hatchings. Two happened in the middle of the night and barely a third of the young men got in position before offerings had to be made.

After the incident with the second in line (who lived but had taken a breaking blow to the ribs), only one other among the older prospects was seriously maimed. But, beyond the wound in his arm, he brought further shame as all attempts to bond that egg had to be abandoned so as to avoid further angering Honeydown.

That was the first to be left to the parents to tend, and grow into a tame if unrideable gryphon.

The second was the last egg of the clutch, when Honeydown simply refused to step back from her nest and growled at all comers, whether they were the trusted attendants or prospective riders to be.

Having already been agitated before and only gentled by prodigious offerings of fresh meat and gentle grooming of her feathers, it was deemed that no further eggs could be claimed from her clutch and that the choosing had concluded.

Father had embraced Alexander openly after that, gently holding him to as not disturb the young chick that was hanging in a hammock of cloth over the boy’s chest.

A bag of soft jerky at her brother’s hip.

And then they had shared many soft words on the proper care and concerns to look out for with a Gryphon chick.

As descendants of lairspawn they were hearty beasts, but as infants there were still dangers of illness and injury.

To Jewel’s ear a lot of the advice was to trust in the staff and the caretakers and heed their advice. And which ones were to be accepted beyond reproach when Father could not be in the eyrie himself to offer mentorship.

Then there had been a great feast, full of fine roasted goat but subdued and quiet, as the guests of honor all had easily disturbed chicks to attend too. And already many had haggard and sunken eye looks from needing to attend to feeding and care of their charges at all hours.

She hated to leave her brother to this endeavor among strangers but their time was up.

Jewel and Father were to depart, returning to Rochford by wing, with their caravan to travel after them.

She bowed to her brother in farewell. It was uncertain when next they might meet. It could be more than a year.

They both had responsibilities and duties to consume their days ahead.

Father had to attend to his demesne and court in Kaeketteh with some regularity. Jewel herself was required to attend as well most years.

Alexander would be raising a new Gryphon and ensuring the strong bond that would see him as both rider and later a Gryphon Lord upon his inheritance.

There did not seem to be any words to fill the space.

The best Jewel could manage was a stilted and formal.

“Take care brother, until we meet again.”

To which he bowed back to her slowly. Careful to avoid waking the sleeping Gryphon chick in his sling hammock of cloth.

His left hand hovered over the feed bag even now, fingers grasping reflexively.

He smelled exhausted and elated at the same time.

Tired from too little sleep and charged with a determination and vigor Jewel had only seen glimpses of before.

Her brother was growing to be a good man, like their father.

“Take care sister, soon you will have to show me what the sky is like on the wing.”

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He tried to give her the flight cant of safe departure but he mangled the angle a bit and instead declared there were enemies in retreat.

Jewel laughed and corrected him with the proper motion of arms.

Her wings did a bit of the same motion as normally would be made by a rider’s gryphon. And she noted with pride that Alexander’s tired eyes widened in realization at his mistake and quickly gave the correct signal.

Father, for his part, offered his hand in a knightly greeting.

Main hand open, forward and bereft of weapon, off hand out to the side and equally unarmed.

Alexander swallowed some kind of utterance, whether laugh or other Jewel was unsure.

He grasped his father’s armored forearm with his hand and the two squeezed one another. Father’s off hand patted Alexander’s shoulder while her brother hesitantly mirrored it.

Then it was time to go.

Jewel turned away towards the cliff where Zephyrvam waited for Father to mount up and be tied down by the Eyrie attendants.

“I think he will do well here, Father. He cares for his bond. And he earned the respect of the formel and drake for all to see.”

Father could not nod in his full flight armor but his waist bent in an almost bow to approximate.

A gesture of arms reinforcing the affirmation in flight cant.

“He will do well, though being so acknowledged is going to haunt him with some jealousy. I argued he should have been in the second or third choosing from the clutch. The first is always the hardest to earn with a new mother.”

Jewel thought of the expression in the wings and neck of Honeydown when Alexander claimed his future steed. She could see why, but had nothing to say.

Father continued.

“But I was overruled, they implied that if Alexander was so poorly prepared with the first among gryphon riders as a father then maybe neither of us were of honor. It was a jealous and stupid tactic. But the choosings always have tempers high.”

Jewel blinked at that, tilting her head to the side. She had grown used to hearing the whispers of those that thought she could not hear.

But there had been none of that apparent among the Gryphon Riders of the Eyrie.

Then again, gryphon riders in general were far better at controlling themselves at all times then most other nobles. Their steeds were observant and considerate beasts after all.

“Truly? They are so wroth at such an auspicious time? It seems very petty.”

Father sighed as he swung over onto Zephyrvam’s neck and shoulders.

The attendants coming forward to work the straps into their matching buckles on the Gryphon’s own harness.

Others pulled the legs, arms and waist of the flight armor to proper readiness.

Squeezing father in until his armor creaked with every movement.

“Many lords and riders failed to see their sons or wards being accepted by this clutch. And it’s not certain all of them will have another chance before they are too old to avoid dishonor.”

Jewel hummed at that, considering what it would have meant for Alexander and Father if he had not been accepted.

Her brother would have been wracked with shame over the prospect.

Father, for all his goodness, would have suffered questions of his fitness as First among Gryphon riders. That his own son could not meet the standards of acceptance despite the circumstances being unfavorable.

Jewel sighed and shook out her wings then waited patiently as Smithson secured her panniers and made sure they were loaded and balanced to best avoid burdening her in the flight home.

It would be hardly a day and a quarter night of fine gliding home to Rochford. But both Father and Jewel had matters and responsibilities to see too that had been left in their time in the Eyrie.

Jewel felt her scales tremble down her sides.

The fact that even among the Brotherhood of Gryphons there was politics put an odd quiver in her guts.

Finally prepared, the cliff was cleared of attendants (and Smithson). As one Jewel and Zephyrvam leapt into open sky for the flight home.