A Dragon's Tale Ch. 56

"Yes?" Kendra replied. She had been sitting near the front of the Argo doing a little prayer and meditation to calm herself. She didn't feel entirely better, but she did feel somewhat better.

"I heard your..." She paused, probably looking for the right word.

"Outburst?"

"I was hoping for something less negative sounding, but yes." Victoria replied. "It sounds like you just discovered that someone you know isn't who you thought he was."

"Something like that." Kendra replied, not wanting to 'out' Selene nor discuss what had truly happened.

"Well, I get that." The platinum blonde said with a sympathetic smile. "Can I share something that I find encouraging from the Book of Light?"

"Sure."

"It's my favorite verse." Victoria said, then quoted: "The grateful pauper can be happy with little, the ungrateful king cannot be content with a whole kingdom. Be grateful for what you have while you have it, for the future is not guaranteed."

"Wise words." Kendra nodded.

"Indeed." She looked at Kendra significantly. "I don't think I need to tell you that people are horrible; you look like the kind of person who's experienced that yourself. But every once in a while, you might meet someone who is a little less horrible than everyone else."

Oddly, Victoria seemed to mean that both seriously and literally; it seemed that she truly believed that the world was divided into horrible people and slightly less horrible people.

Interesting.

"I've found that unless you focus on the bright side of things, you'll drown in despair." The platinum blonde continued. "So I don't know what your friend did, but it seems like the people here aren't horrible. Try to remember that if the horribleness of everyone else begins to weigh you down; it might help."

Kendra looked at her for several seconds before speaking. "How long have you been telepathic?"

Suddenly, Victoria's smile didn'tquite reach into her eyes. "Too long."

"I'll keep what you said in mind." Kendra replied after a moment. "And thank you."

"You're welcome, I hope it helps." She smiled and then turned to rejoin the others.

Near the captain's cabin, Ethan had apparently broken out that game of penté that Anthiel and her husband Ralgar had given them while they were in Gralden. Ethan and Harold, Victoria's father, were currently playing a game with several other people watching.

Kendra stood and walked over to join them.

"I started as a lawyer, but over time I became more like an administrator." Harold was saying, then he placed a piece, putting three of them in a row. "Tria."

"Damn, good move." Ethan frowned as he looked at the board. "What kind of administration? Local?"

"Actually throughout the barony." Harold replied. "It might be among the smallest baronies in Ivernia, but Baron Martel has a lot of connections and he wanted someone to oversee things. I 'volunteered' to help him if you ask him."

"Volunteered?" Ethan chuckled. "Sounds like he's a delightful person." He rolled his eyes and then finally placed his next piece, blocking one end of Harold's tria.

"Tria." Harold said as he placed his own piece. "Actually, two trias."

Ethan exhaled heavily. "I concede. Damn, that's three in a row now."

"So what does the prophet of Illuminar do?" Harold asked as they cleaned the pieces off the board to begin again.

"Mostly fly around the Ten Kingdoms getting ambushed and occasionally helping people." He replied and then placed his first piece since the loser always goes first in penté.

"It sounds like modern prophets do not have it easier than those in the Book of Light." Victoria said from her seat near her father.

Ethan shrugged. "We're trying to fix that."

"I'm working on it now actually." Alana said as she put another stitch in the leather she was working on.

Kendra had noticed her working with it earlier too. It looked like she was making a small pouch for her belt -- not the travel bow disguised as a belt, but an actual belt -- and Kendra guessed it was to hold her new and more powerful travel arrows. The wood elf had been splitting her time between sewing dresses and practicing with her new arrows, and her accuracy was becoming her usual level of incredible. Before long, she would be able to split an arrow with a follow-up arrow again.

Not long afterwards, Harold claimed his fourth victory.

"Can I try my hand against the prophet?" Victoria asked.

"Sure." Ethan replied.

The platinum blonde was good. Not quite as good as her father, but she managed to win two-thirds of her games against Ethan.

"Might I play the winner?" Myla asked.

"Sure." Ethan moved and the two telepaths sat down to play each other, though Kendra was sure that they had mental defenses so that wasn't a factor.

Neither spoke much as they played. They were very evenly matched despite having radically different play styles. Myla's moves were careful and precise; even the way she set the pieces onto the board seemed deliberate and done with much forethought. Victoria was a little more chaotic and random, but somehow that chaos didn't translate into less skill. The dusky-skinned woman seemed to excel at planning ahead and putting Victoria in tight spots, but the platinum blonde seemed to excel at thinking on her proverbial feet to extricate herself from those spots, often snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

It was interesting to watch.

About halfway through their games, Thor wandered over and for the first time, actually approached the guests. Without Selene here, he just hadn't seemed interested in meeting new people. He went up to Myla first and sniffed her several times, then did the same to Victoria. He sat down and looked at them for a moment, then went to each in turn and rubbed the side of his face against them once.

"Aww." Victoria smiled while Myla beamed.

Then Thor did the most 'cat' thing possible; he walked on the board and flopped down in the middle of it. The pieces were of course thrown out of place and yet Thor was looking around like he'd done nothing wrong.

"I was just about to win." Victoria said with a smile as she shook her head slowly. "I would be very upset at you if you weren't so cute."

"He is." Myla agreed, then reached out to pet him gently.

Victoria petted him too and Thor seemed to enjoy it. He didn't react to them the way he did to Selene, but he did seem to like them.

* * *

Sarah stepped out into the night air with Amy behind her. She had spent a wonderful few hours with her father and it had been so good to see him up and about. He had seemed younger and more energetic than she'd seen him in many years and that did her heart good. He had remarked several times how much she'd changed and it seemed a compliment, which also did Sarah's heart good. Amy had said very little, though she had occasionally glanced towards the door a few times.

"Are you sure he won't mind?" The artistic girl asked the innkeeper's daughter as they walked towards Rindrin's blacksmith shop.

"I don't think he will." Sarah replied. "We are betrothed and there will be two of us, so there aren't any concerns about propriety."

"But still..." Amy was clutching her 'Honesty' painting to her chest and looked quite nervous.

"It will be fine." Sarah smiled at her. "I don't think I've ever seen him get angry at someone for asking him a question." She cocked her head to one side. "Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen him get truly angry. Frustrated and upset, yes, but never truly angry."

"That's good." Amy smiled, but it was a nervous smile.

"Trust me, you'll be fine." Sarah said as they reached the door.

"Okay." Amy replied, her tone indicating that she had doubts.

Sarah knocked.

"One minute." Rindrin said from the other side of the door. Sarah heard the distinct, slightly 'crunching' sound of something being put into the coals of a fire, then footsteps, then the door opened. Rindrin's eyes widened for a moment, then he smiled. "I see that prophet made good on his word."

Sarah's father had already told her of Ethan's earlier visit, and she had felt like her heart had expanded so much that she thought it might burst when she'd learned of that.

"Actually, Ethan didn't find me." Sarah replied. "I've just come from Karnas, where I met Amy here." She indicated her friend. "She has a question she wants to ask you."

"Hi." Amy gave Rindrin a nervous little wave of the hand.

He shrugged and opened the door. "Come on in."

They did.

The room was rather brightly lit for this time of day by the forge and several bright lanterns. It looked like how it always had, except it seemed that people needed a lot more blacksmithing work done lately judging by the number of items on his 'to fix' table.

"One minute." Rindrin said as he went back over to the forge, pulled something out of it, and set it on the anvil without working it; apparently he was done smithing for a while. Once done, he returned and led them into the rear 'house' portion of the building and indicated that they should sit down at a table. "What's this about you being in Karnas?"

Sarah gave him a very abbreviated version of her travels in recent weeks. "I can give you more details if you want, but that's the gist."

Rindrin shrugged. "Well, I'm glad you ain't been hurt." He looked at Amy. "What were you wantin' to ask?"

"Um, what do you think of this picture?" She held it up so Rindrin could see it.

He leaned in slightly to look at it for a moment and then frowned. "It's ugly crap." He looked at the artist. "You seem like the artistic type though, so there ain't no reason you couldn't practice up and become a good artist."

"Marry me." Amy breathed dreamily, then clapped a hand to her mouth to hide the grimace that had suddenly appeared as she whispered. "Did I just say that out loud?"

Sarah laughed.

Rindrin looked confused.

Amy went beet red.

"I'll explain later." Sarah said to Rindrin after she'd stopped laughing and put her arm around her friend. "However, I was hoping to ask you for a favor."

"Like?" He replied.

"I can't stay at my father's inn because I'll scare away all the customers." She explained. "I know you have a spare bedroom and I was hoping that Amy and I could stay there until we get married. If we don't, we won't have a place to go except the inn, and again that will scare everyone away from the outpost."

He frowned. "Your father knows about you asking this?"

"He does." Sarah nodded. "He trusts you and there will be two of us so there shouldn't be a propriety problem."

Rindrin looked at Amy, though he was clearly still speaking to Sarah. "You trust this girl?"

"I do."

"Fine by me, though don't be expectin' much in the way of comfort." He shrugged. "And if you'll be livin' here anyway, we should be marryin' soon to keep things right and proper."

Once upon a time, Sarah would've just agreed and they probably would've been married tomorrow or the next day. But she wasn't the same girl that she had been even a month ago. "Um, could we talk about that in the morning?"

Rindrin eyed her for a moment. "You sweet on the prophet the same as he's sweet on you?"

Sarah froze slightly, not sure how to respond. Her heart was soaring at the thought of Ethan being 'sweet on her', but she wasn't sure what Rindrin would think of that fact.

Thankfully, he spoke up and she didn't need to reply. "Yeah, we can talk in the morning. Don't let the hammering keep you up."

"We won't." Sarah smiled, glad that he didn't seem upset.

The two women went to his spare bedroom. It was small, lacked any sort of decoration, and the sheets smelled slightly musty, but otherwise it was fine. Sarah and Amy then went out and grabbed their things and brought them into the room, not that there was much. Once that was done, they changed into sleeping gowns and slid into the bed.

Laying there with Amy next to her, Sarah thought about Selene. She missed her friend dearly. Of course, her father had told her that Selene had come by the inn, but since she was traveling with Ethan, Lady Ekthros's threat meant that Sarah couldn't talk to her even if she did come by the inn again. Sarah sighed, wishing that something could happen that might protect Fiona and Conner from Lady Ekthros as she had prayed so many times.

Outside, she heard the sound of a hammer rhythmically hitting metal.

Amy sighed wistfully. "It's like music."

Sarah chuckled. "You really like him, don't you?"

"He's perfect." She sighed dreamily.

Sarah smiled while thinking about a different man who was perfect, or at least perfect for her.

* * *

Fiona set her utensils at the top of her plate and leaned back in her chair, feeling rather more full than she usually did after dinner. She helped make the food for the high table regularly and had tasted it as part of making it of course, but it tasted better tonight for some reason. Maybe it was because she didn't have to make it.

The high table had mostly emptied by now, though Sir Warrick, General Carrow, and Lord Delmar were all still there. Mage Weston had left a few minutes before and said good evening to her specifically before leaving, which she appreciated. Sir Warrick and General Carrow had spent most of the meal discussing the orc situation in Ivernia and debating the merits of intervening.

"My dear Fiona." Sir Warrick said loudly enough that he obviously intended to be heard by more than just her, though not loudly enough to be suspicious. "Please remain here for a few minutes while the poor delusional General and I go check something."

"Aye, I can be doing that." She nodded.

They got up and left, though she had no idea for what or why. Knowing Sir Warrick, he had probably made up some excuse so that Fiona could talk to Lord Delmar alone. Currently, the two of them were alone, or as alone as one could be in such a room. There were a few people at the far end of the other tables, but they were far away enough that a low conversation wouldn't carry to them.

"Milord, can I be asking a question?" She asked in a low enough voice that it wouldn't carry.

He nodded once, though didn't look at her.

"What are youreally thinking about the orcs in Ivernia?"

"Exactly what I said." He replied. "We do not know enough to make an informed decision. That is why Lady Ekthros is on her way to Dotmier now."

"She is?"

He nodded once. "I believe she traveled most of the way by portal; she might have already arrived."

She smiled. "I'm liking that you care so much."

Lord Delmar made a thoughtful sound, then lowered his tone even though no one was nearby. "I do not care, neither about the miners nor their plight."

Fiona stared at him. "But, but the orcs areeating the miners. You're not caring about that?"

"No." He said simply "Illuminar instructs those in power to look after those who are powerless so I shall obey. However, were I to concern myself with every injustice outside of Narlotten's borders, I would think of little else."

Fiona stared.

After several seconds she realized her mouth was open and closed it, still not quite believing what she was hearing. "What if your daughter was there? Wouldn't you be caring then?"

"Yes, but she is not there." He replied.

"But there are other daughters, sons, fathers, and wives there." She countered. "Surely you could be imagining yourself in their shoes and how they must be feeling."

Lord Delmar didn't reply.

She didn't get the impression that it was because she had stumped him either. He had simply chosen not to reply. She thought about that for a minute and something about it didn't sit right with her and she didn't think that he could truly be that unfeeling.

"I'm having trouble believing that you aren't caring milord." She finally said.

"Believe as you wish." He replied without emotion.

Fiona frowned.

It was possible that Lord Delmar was so cold-hearted, but she doubted it. From what everyone said about Helene, she cared deeply about helping other people and it seemed impossible that she could truly love a man who was so indifferent to the sufferings of others. Their love had seemed to be the stuff of legends, which made him being uncaring seem even less likely.

Although...

Perhaps he had grown colder toward others since her passing? That was possible, especially since it had been fifteen years. Given what Sir Warrick had said earlier, that seemed a likely possibility. It certainly seemed more likely than someone as caring as Helene falling in love with someone who didn't care about others.

"What would the Lady Helene be saying about that?" Fiona asked after a moment.

Lord Delmar's expression didn't change, but suddenly he did seem a bit stiffer. It was subtle, but there. "She is not alive to ask."

Fiona nodded her head in concession, finding this conversation rather strange.

"My offer is still open, should you reconsider." Lord Delmar said after a moment.

"I'm not sure I can be reconsidering my condition milord." She replied. "That's truly near and dear to my heart and I don't think I could be doing it without that."

He made a thoughtful sound and then inclined his head in concession slightly. "The offer will remain open if you do reconsider."

Fiona looked around to make sure that no one was near before speaking in a low voice. "If I can be asking, what are the side effects that are making you so determined not to?"

He looked at her for a moment. "I would need to bed you every other day to maintain full control of my faculties. Subtle but noticeable effects would appear beyond three or four days. Should you become unavailable for merely a week, it could compromise my ability to rule to the best of my ability."

"Really?" Her eyes widened. Whatever she had been expecting, it certainly wasn't that.

"Consider Ithlan." Lord Delmar replied. "His descent into madness came about because he bonded to too many women to increase his power, and then he was not able to service them all."

Fiona nodded.

That did make some sense.

"I..." She hesitated a moment, considering what she was about to say rather carefully. He had laid out pretty clearly what would be required to keep him a good lord if they bonded. She wanted him to be a good lord, she wanted to marry him, and she wanted to bond to him. If that's what was required...

In the back of her mind, she also had the vision of him with his shirt off. She knew from seeing his dragon form that he was truly that well-muscled, and she would be lying if she said that wasn't a factor, however small it was.

"I would be willing to join with you that often." She finally said, though her voice wavered more than she wanted it to.

"Even when you are ill?" He replied. "When you have just given birth? When the child is keeping you up all night and you are too tired to move?"

Fiona took a deep breath. "Aye. I've been all of those and know that I could."

Lord Delmar made a thoughtful sound that somehow sounded slightly negative, as if he didn't think she would reply that way and perhaps hadn't wanted her to.

"I still cannot accept the limitation." He said after several moments. "Good evening Fiona." He gave her a respectful nod of the head, then stood and left.

As he did so, Sir Warrick's statement about him needing her more than she needed him came to mind. The last time they had talked, he hadn't even been willing to discuss the downsides. This time he had. Perhaps that was progress?

She wasn't sure when this had happened or when she'd started wanting this, but she realized that she truly did want to marry him. Conner needed a father, she wanted a husband, and she could think of no one better for those roles. True he proclaimed himself to be unfeeling, but she couldn't imagine that was the case. Not if Helene had loved him as much as everyone said. Perhaps he had grown a bit calloused over the years, but she thought there was a man-- err, dragon with a good heart in there still.