Orken and Shaelyn had been put to work. A small patch of land was given to the two of them for the vegetable garden on the farthest side of the castle, away from the botanical quarter, so that the old grouch of a botanist couldn't see them and have a fit about it. They had already taken three wagons to the town filled with tomatoes, onions, potatoes, and raspberries as treat.
The process only stopped in the late afternoon when Orken's tomatoes started to look as if they were growing faces. Despite the amount of complaining Orken had done when Aurelie asked him, he seemed to be enjoying the work, especially the part where he got to impart his knowledge onto Shaelyn.
While the two of them worked, Aurelie packed the supplies into crates, feeling more useless by the minute. A guard was assigned to the duty, but she had taken over his work. He now sat inside the wagon, occasionally taking the crates from Aurelie and stacking them at the back. His mouth was pink from Shaelyn's raspberries.
Aurelie's original plan was to assist Daerious in the cleaning and rebuilding of the cathedral and the houses that were damaged, but too many guards would have to hover around her and the time and cost of the operation did not match the results that it would yield. She and her father did agree that she should be present in the town square at least one day out of every week to bond with the town's folk. Her job would be to pack vegetables in the market and chat to the inhabitants to gain their respect.
Orken held his palm out over a newly sprouted leaf of a tomato plant and chanted, "Gomus," until a tiny, green tomato formed. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he called Shaelyn closer.
"You see here," he said, keeping the tomato between his thumb and index finger, "you take it like this, fingers loose not tight. Now, I pull away gently and slowly so that it grows with the movement rather than having to rush to catch up." The tomato grew to fit tightly in the palm of his hand, and when he took his hand away entirely, it reddened, making Aurelie's lips water. "That's how you keep the natural flavor, and not create the rubbish that is sold in those witch markets you talked about."
Shaelyn nodded. "Can I do something other than the berries now?" she asked. Her fingers were marked with little dots from the prickly raspberry bush, and thin, red lines ran up her arms from the gathering of the berries that grew deeper within the bush.
Aurelie rolled up her sleeve and flapped her hand over her sweaty face in an attempt to cool down. The sun was rather intense. When she woke up, grey clouds coated the sky only to clear up by the time they were finished with breakfast. Aurelie took the tomato and put it into the crate.
Bobbie, the young brave guard, made his way up the hill, his hand outstretched and waving at us. Aurelie waved back, smiling. She wondered if Bobbie would be sent off to one of the training camps that the castle was planning to open. The border would be a dangerous place, but she would rather have him trained than to be unprotected when the war came. Yet, there was childishness in the boy that Aurelie yearned to protect. He had one of those faces that would make you tear up yourself if you saw him crying.
"Your Highness." Bobbie bowed in greeting. Someone must have set him straight, because the last time they met he chose to ignore all the formalities, and in the process made Aurelie grow rather fond of him. "The dragon's awake and she's beingâdifficult."
***
Aurelie ran up to the field where Valice now lived. The guards and Vera were pressed up against the castle wall, their clothing flapping in the wind created by the flap of Valice's wings. She trotted around. A red glow set over her eyes, making even Aurelie weary of stepping too close.
Niendry was closest to Valice, her hands folded around her waist, and her black hair billowing. The shadowy smoke of her skirt weaved violently around her like a whirlwind that had been turned upside down. She took a step, fighting against the wind to get close to Valice.
Aurelie stuck her hands out toward Valice, in an attempt to soothe her before she caused herself or Niendry any hard. The golden light shot out and connected with Valice. Aurelie felt a pain in the joint of her wrist, a dull ache right in the bone. "What is it?"
"Pain."
"Where?"
Aurelie looked for the opium bucket that Vera made daily. It was flattened and in pieces with the liquid soaking into dried and yellow grass over which Valice had rested. In some places, the ground was stripped of grass and instead imprinted with the triangular pattern of her scales. The bone of her wing was exposed and a large scratch went from the top of the round, stumpy bone to the bottom.
The silver prosthetics that had been made for her were in an awkward, overturned position beneath her wing. Somehow, in the process, they injured her.
"Cannot fly."
Aurelie felt the panic that rose inside the dragon as if it had been her own. "It's okay. We will fix it. If you let them attach the silver strips to your wings, we think that you will be able to fly again."
"Pain. No."
"We can stop for today, but you have to let us attach those if you want to fly."
"Yes. Not today."
"You must take the medicine Vera gives you. That will take the pain away."
"Makes sleep."
"That's good. You should sleep while they work."
"I take."
Aurelie let out a breath of relief and turned to the ghostly faces of the people who had been caught in the torment of a dragon's pain. The group had spread, breathing easier but still wide-eyed and scared to death.
"Thank you," Aurelie said and broke the connection.
Vera had been bent down over a man who clutched onto his arm. As Aurelie neared them, she saw that bone had been sticking out midway through his arm. She stopped, gaping. Her lunch lurched up into her mouth, stopping just as it touched her tongue. She swallowed hard, but the sour taste remained.
"What happened?" she asked looking the other way.
"The panels were too heavy for the guards to lift, they fell and scratched the dragon. He was caught in the middle of it."
The man groaned and panted. All Aurelie could think of, was the fact that Valice would have to wait even longer now to get her wing back. "I'm so sorry that this happened."
"Get me some of that opium," Vera instructed, stretching her hand behind her back to point at the field.
Aurelie ran over to where the mixture was spilled and scraped some off the floor with a piece of wood from the bucket that was still intact. When she returned to Vera her eyes passed the man's ruined arm again. She felt the bile rise up faster this time, spit racing into her mouth and filling it. Running, she spat and felt the food fill her throat.
A figure came to cover the light of the sun while she sat bent over, staring into mashed pieces of apple pie and chicken, and panting. Aurelie wiped at the corners of her mouth and turned her head. Niendry looked at Aurelie as if nothing happened, a rather curious expression on her face.
"It is amazing how you can calm her."
Aurelie swallowed, her jaw clenched and tongue pressed tightly against her pallet in an attempt to keep more bile from coming up. There couldn't be much left in her stomach, but her gagging continued. With a fist pressed against her lips, she carefully replied, "What were you doing so close?"
"The spirits wanted to see if they could communicate," Niendry beamed raising her neatly trimmed brow. "I told them only you could, but they wouldn't listen, especially not the dragon tamer." She bent over her skirt and kicked her leg out. "Quiet!" she said looking at her skirt.
For a second, Aurelie could make out a ghostly face in the skirt, but it had vanished faster than she could properly react. "Dragon tamer?"
"Yes, she's been here since I arrived at the castle. The annoying little devil," she said, lowering her face toward her skirt and pressing her lips back into a thin line. "No," she gritted her teeth, "I am not going to ask her that."
"Ask me what?" Aurelie curiosity had peaked, but only enough to ask.
"Never you mind him!"
She stood, and taking slow and even breaths. The taste in her mouth was overwhelming and even crusted the air with its vile rotten, sour smell. Holding a hand over her stomach, she walked up to the castle, almost inclined to ask one of the guards to carry her up. Dark dots appeared around the far corners of her visit.
"Tell me, does it sound like words when she speaks?"
Aurelie turned, narrow-eyed. "Yes, of course, they are words, what else would they be?" Suddenly weakness clad her, spreading into her arms and legs. She took a deep breath, hoping it would pass.
"That's grand! Well, one of the know it alls that follows me told me that the dragon does not truly speak. The connection the two of you share just makes her thoughts and feelings transparent to you. So if she thinks of a tree, for example, you will think of a tree. Isn't that something? Oh, I'd love to be in your head." Niendry almost twirled in her fascination.
"I've never thought about it much," Aurelie said, clutching her fingers into fists to see if the weakness had passed. It hadn't. Her steps were clumsy, toes not rising up enough and scraping against the glass as she picked her feet up to take steps. "I guess," she breathed, "I guessâ"
Dark dots spread thick making her see through a tunnel of black. "Niendry," she said. "Call Vera."
"What is it?" Niendry sounded panicked and much farther away than she ought to have been.
Aurelie blinked and her clear vision returned. The numbness in her hands and legs was however still here. "Never mind, don't worry. I think I'm alright."
"Come on," Niendry said and took Aurelie's arm, swinging it over her shoulder, "I'll help you get to your room."
Aurelie's leaned against her, using as little of her own weight as she could to walk. "I think I've overworked myself today."
"I think you might be correct."
"Niendry," Aurelie said. "When you searched for Kirin, could you not feel him at all? Not even a single trace?"
"No, Princess Aurelie, not a trace."
"That means he's not gone, though, am I right to assume that?"
Niendry's chest rose and sunk back down with a deep sigh. "I don't want to give you hope, on the off chance that he'sâGod, how do I say this?âIn case he is not right when you find him."
"Not right?"
"Displacement is a hard thing to come back from. I've had one lost spirit make contact with me trying to ask for help, and right now he thinks he's a prince of the forest people. Last month he stood inside one of my customer's bodies, pretending to be him by following his steps. They don't come out right once they're lost."
"All of them?"
"I don't know. The man I speak of missed his call. KirinâI have no idea where Kirin is or how he managed to disappear entirely."
The journey felt overly long and gave Aurelie very much to think about. They had to walk along the tall walls of the castle until they reached the back gate by the river. There, guards assisted Niendry and carried Aurelie to her bedroom.