Chapter 44: Veria’s Daughter

Veria closed her eyes, and her snout furrowed in concentration. Shapes and colors spread like a delicate mist from her mouth as she exhaled. Hot sand turned to warm oak flooring beneath her paws as the thin mist covered it. It continued to expand and formed walls thrice her size that barred Dalian and Arastra from the memory. Moonlight streamed in from the windows into the now completed hall. Colorful lightglobes appeared on the ceiling and basked them in all hues of the rainbow. A hundred dragons and humans coalesced into being around them, each one no different from their living counterpart.

Veria had no ability to walk the path of souls, yet her imagination in the Veil was superb and rivaled that of Dalian. Everything down to the stuffy air felt real, as if Sylph really stood amid a large crowd in a dance hall. Only the eerie silence of a halted memory served as a mental hook to be sure it was a remembrance.

Sylph only recognized why she stood in a dance hall when she spotted Oasis and Veria up on the stage; This was their wedding. She also found herself standing next to Dalian a few tail lengths away. Her own memory of the event was pretty spotty. All she recalled was noise and somebody stepping on her tail at some point. If her math was correct, she had been eight years old and thus not grasped the significance of the Metia bonding ceremony.

The scene started to move. Dragons returned from the buffet that filled the entire left wall and sat down around their tables. Oasis spoke, but the volume of the memory suddenly became hushed, barely a whisper. The real Veria pointed at the front of an unfamiliar Metia. “Do you see the painted symbols on everyone?”

Sylph inspected the round circle, then turned her attention to Oasis up on the stage. Both she and Veria wore a complex red pattern painted all over their torso. Standing side-by side, the two figures formed a singular image that looked a bit like a misshapen but strangely beautiful infinity symbol. Everyone in the room had a similar red circle drawn on them, albeit less intricate and not made to connect in the same way. The smaller Sylph had one too. “I’m guessing this is a Metia tradition? I am not sure what they mean,” Sylph admitted after staring for a few more seconds.

Veria pointed at her second self. “You are right. It is a Metia tradition that symbolizes the strength of our bonds towards each other. Here, the source is only me. If Oasis was a Metia, her bonds would wear a similar but mirrored symbol.” She drew a basic circle with a strike-through into the air that kept hovering between them. “You will find this circle in all designs. The specifics are complicated and even depend on your family and tribe. Additional lines and symbols show my bond to the person wearing them. Now, for the mates to be bonded,” Veria outlined a dragon in the air and added more and more details to the once simple circle, “They present your intentions and wishes. Happiness, fortune, love, wealth. These connect across our bodies to form the complete image. When connected, these wishes will be fulfilled.”

She reached into the air and pulled forth a ribbon. “Some traditions even knot the mates together for the entire evening right at their ankle. We thought it was awkward, and in the way of the traditional dances that Oasis wanted.”

Veria drew another two circles onto the belly of the dragon outline and added what first looked like a banana. “That’s looking a bit rude,” Sylph noticed.

Veria faced her with a grin and started to giggle. “This one wishes for fertility. We skipped that too. You would not believe how upset that made some of the older folk. It is the symbol that is always present, they say, disregarding the circumstances. And yes, it is drawn on your belly, and guess where the symbols connect during the bonding night.” Sylph could not help but laugh along with Veria’s hearty chuckle.

Veria then swiped away the image and walked up to Dalian, pointing at the swirling symbol on his torso. “It means great friend.”

She pointed out others and their meanings ranging from friend to associate of my wife but I do not know them, over family that I barely recognize, and finally ended at friend of my wife’s brother’s boyfriend. Sylph could barely keep track, but ultimately, Veria conjured up another intricate pattern.

The oblong symbol had the circle at the bottom and various lines spread out like spikes hanging menacingly above the shape. Veria gave it a slight push, and the motif settled on Sylph’s torso.

The small Sylph floated up motionless and real Sylph noticed the same symbol on her chest. Veria smiled as she stood behind Sylph’s smaller self and lowered her head so the spikes protruded, much like they did on the symbol, and Sylph understood what she wanted to say. “It resembles an egg resting in front of the spiked head of its mother. It is the symbol for daughter.”

Sylph’s claws dug into the hard wood below. It was not just a design, all these markings, they stood for the bonds Veria had. While they were beyond an Aer’s understanding, she understood what they meant. Sylph was adopted, but to Veria it made no difference. In her bond, Sylph had always been her daughter. Perhaps not when they first met, but the bond did not lie.

Tears welled up in her eyes as the gentle shade of Veria’s wing covered her and she whispered. “I can not deny what I said in your memories. Neither can I deny the bond took time to grow. But I hope you know that from that decision made in a stuffy barracks, you will always be my daughter. I never doubted the bond, yet failed to realize that you can not understand it like I do, that I should’ve been more clear. I made a mistake and now I hope we can keep that bond alive and build it back stronger. The trust I’ve failed to give you can’t simply be given back, but I will try my best.”

Sylph felt tiny beneath her wings. Not a weak or fragile tiny, but a protected and comforted young. “If you can forgive me for running, I am happy to be back with you and Oasis and Dalian and even Arastra. We can-” An immaterial gale sucked the air out of her lungs. The Veil collapsed on her and she fell.