Chapter 31: Mother, Mother, and Mother?

“I thought I would never see you again,” Nahana said, unfurled her massive wings and enveloped Sylph like a cocoon of silk. She wrapped her head and neck around Sylph’s and pressed her body against hers. Sharp needles punctured her scales where they touched. She had hoped it would be different, that her mother could touch her, but it was not any different to Veria or Oasis, worse even. She endured the pain of holding the embrace a little longer to enjoy the closeness. But the needles grew more intense, and she had to pull away.

Nahana retracted her wings, and the small oasis of shade gave way to the blazing sunlight. Sylph’s mind had not fully worked through the backlog of events, but it caught up eventually. Slowly, her chest glowed from within, not a leaden heat like the desert sun, not the sickly warmth of alcohol, but an all-encompassing joy filling every muscle, every fiber all at once. She had done it; she had found her mother. Sylph beamed up at Nahana.

“Look at you,” Nahana smiled with the same excitement that shone from within Sylph’s chest and her wings fluttered, “all grown up. Such a well trained and toned body-” Her gaze stopped on the scar around her neck, and swiveled to her crippled wings. “But what did they do to you?” She spun to Brandon instantaneously. “Throw the human into prison,” she commanded with such ferocity that it made Sylph flinch.

“No, wait!” She jumped between them. “He’s not a slaver. I am still alive because of him. He’s my friend.” Placing herself in the mistress’s line of hatred felt like stepping in front of a cannon with a lit fuse. Nahana’s gaze darted back to her, then Dust, then Brandon and Sylph saw the tension in her body build up even further. It vanished as quickly as it had appeared. “You are not lying. In that case, lock him into our visitors’ room. Treat him like a guest.” She addressed the guards. Her voice, it was both strong and light and yet heavy as an anvil, not a suggestion, but law and there was no doubt about it. The Sol dared to question her order. “A guest? With all the amenities?”

“Yes, all amenities, but he may not leave the room under my personal order. Am I clear?”

Chains clinked as the guard bowed deeply. Sylph turned to Brandon. “I’m sorry, hold on. I won’t let you stay locked up. She’ll understand when I tell her the entire story.”

He shrugged, but could not hide the uneasy tension rippling in his voice. “It’s ok. You had to do worse. I can go sit in a room for a while.” The guard approached and, for the first time, Sylph paid him more attention. Metal plates covered most rigid parts of his head, neck, and torso, while the flexible and loud chain mail covered the front and loosely draped over the arms. He nodded for Brandon to follow. Nahana said to treat him like a guest, but that initial reaction worried her. They hated humans in this town.

Nahana turned back to Sylph, her wings stretched forward to envelop her again, but Sylph dodged backwards. As much as she wanted to, it would hurt. Nahana’s wings drooped down like disappointed curtains. Sylph answered before she could ask. “I do not like being touched. Nothing against you. I don’t want anybody to touch me.”

Nahana’s initial surprise flashed into fleeting anger. “What did they do to you?”

“I don’t know,” Sylph shrugged, “Been like that since I grew into an adult.” Her words could be interpreted differently too, and she felt the need to clear up any misconceptions. “It really just became that way. Slavers didn’t beat it into me or something. That is not it.” At least she thought her earliest days had nothing to do with that.

“What is your name?” Nahana asked. The soothing whisper of her speech reverberated through Sylph’s head like a pleasant wave.

“Sylph.”

Nahana repeated, tasted every syllable of her name. “That won’t do, your new name shall be-”

“I don’t need a different name,” Sylph protested.

“We all changed our name after being freed.” Her mother’s voice grew softer still and enveloped her mind in cotton. It protested against the warm and fuzzy sensation until the cotton broke away and Nahana’s voice seemed eerily odd. She noticed something similar in some rare Aer voices before. They made you feel what they wanted you to. The effect had never been this pronounced.

The storyteller’s words popped into her head. “No one wants to be Sylph.” This could be her chance to be someone else, someone that was not Sylph. “I have thought about a name before you were stolen,” Nahana said and her words carried more comfort and warmth, but it fell flat as her mind refused to comply. “I am free. And this name was given to me after I was freed.” Void had named her, and she liked it, ironic as it might be. Her name held all the wonderful memories, too. Casting off story Sylph was not about the name. “I’m not changing it.”

Nahana gestured her to follow. “There is a lot you have to tell me. I want to hear it all. You must be hungry and thirsty after such a journey.” This time, her voice carried no emotion. She looked up and down Sylph’s front. “And you need a bath.” She hovered her wing above her, only a few inches away, and the slight shade comforted her like a distant and comfortable hug. The remaining Metia stood at attention. The spikes down his back had raised all the way and his tail could not stop twitching. Nervous and excited as he was, this situation never happened before. It would be odd if it had.

Nahana walked only three steps before she stopped and snapped around. “How very un-courteous of me to forget you.” Her voice turned bitter and carried a dagger. “We need to talk.” Thankfully, it was not aimed at her. The emotion, however, ran down her rear like a bristled tongue and made her scales stand up.

Dust stood at attention, body tense, and head bowed low. He was slightly larger than Nahana, but in her presence, his calm posture and snappy words crumbled like a sugar cube in tea and he deflated to a hatchling.

“You have brought back my daughter, but that does not free you from your debt. You know who else I wanted you to bring to me.” She strode around him. He froze in place and bowed deeply. “May I speak?” Nahana’s tail flipped up to his snout, and she raised his chin upwards with the delicate fins. Dust swallowed hard. “I have come into the possession of a few eggs.” His gaze flicked to Sylph for an instant. Almost begging her not to snitch.

He was indebted. She never would have guessed that. He made it sound like he worked for Nahana, not that Sylph was payment for something.

“How did that happen?” Nahana’s tail left his snout, but he did not dare move it an inch.

“Accident outside town, the desert is harsh even to those experienced. Nobody knows about them.”

Nahana left him where he stood and joined back up with Sylph and the guard. “Bring me the eggs, Dust.” He bowed so deep that his face hit the sand and hurried for the airship.

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Dragons bowed left and right as they passed through the city gates and headed deeper inside. The citizens, mostly Sol, stopped everything they did and only lifted their heads after they were sure she had seen their devotion. Not only did they bow to her mother, Sylph felt their stares burn at the back of her neck. She was the center of attention, not Nahana.

To get her mind away, she gave in to her curiosity about Dust. If not even bringing her forever lost daughter back, he must have done something horrific. “What did Dust do?”

Nahana waved her question away. “Nothing that has to concern you just yet.”

“He saved us, so I wonder if he did it to save himself. “

Nahana glanced down with a smile. “A good thought to consider. Nobody does anything out of the good in their heart. Dust is an old fool. A loyal fool, but a fool is a fool. He aided a small group of humans in their escape because he thought they were wrongfully imprisoned.” Her voice went icy and the strain and seething hate entered her head like a tendril that wrapped around her mind. She shook the added emotions away. “Humans are insatiable in their greed and instead of saving the lives Dust so generously gave them, they stole something dear to me. You. Dust is the reason you were stolen.” She stopped and turned to face Sylph.

“He is responsible for that?” She could not quite believe that. His opinion on humans did not seem very high. Imagining him releasing human prisoners out of generosity seemed wrong. Her dragonheart flared up in unpleasant anger. That he who saved them was the one responsible. The fire in her chest simmered back down. He would be back. He had to answer that question himself and tell her why to her own face.

The shade of Nahana’s wing covered her once more. “Enough of old, hurtful memories. If I fully blamed him for losing you, he would not be alive.” It was a statement, a bone dry statement. “Humans and their greed are at fault. They’d put all of us on a chain if we allowed them to.”

“Not all of them. Brandon is my friend. As are others.”

“Your friend?” Nahana sighed with the vigor of somebody tired of a fact. “Listen, little one, humans do not like us. Their fear is too deeply ingrained. You may call him friend, but has he never flinched away as soon as you showed some teeth? We are monsters to them, Sylph. Nothing can change that.” Her sickly sweet voice oozed with feelings of empathy, as if she was giving some life advice. Sylph did not allow the emotions to take hold. Getting used to what she would describe as Aer-speech took some time.

Of course Brandon would react like that to showing teeth. That was the purpose. At that point, the other party deserved that. Although other dragons did not flinch as much as humans. She shook the sticky advice out of her head, but the images of Tim and Tanno came back with a vengeance, if only for a second. Was she really a monster?

“We can’t blame them for being afraid. We are the world’s apex predators, after all. They are mammals, prey.” Tanno said similar things to justify his ideas. No wonder they hated each other, believing the same thing. “But don’t worry, your human, your plaything, he will be save. Unless he tries anything stupid,” Nahana reassured her.

“He’s not a plaything and not my human. I don’t own him.” Nahana gave her nothing more than a nod. While not disingenuous, she hated being put off like that. Nahana talked to her like a subject, but she could not blame her if Sylph had been gone for her entire life. It would take some getting used to for both of them. And if she mistreated Brandon, she would not call a person like that mother.