45: The Blue of the Sky

Traveling with a baby dragon was not easy. More than once Blayre wished that she had left it behind or even allowed the Mountainers or Bartley to find the dratted thing. She was sure they would have lost patience with it before long.

Compounding the situation was the fact that Caval had to place a glamour on it so that it didn't look like what it was –a winged lizard the size of a small dog. Blayre couldn't see the glamour, but was informed by her two companions that the dragonling made for a very fat, contented-looking cat.

The dragonling had an insatiable appetite, and Blayre wondered how fast she (Blayre had suspected, and Caval had confirmed, that it was female) would grow at the rate that it wanted to eat. The roads they took were the more frequented ones, and they traveled by day in order to stick with the crowds, keeping consistent with Blayre's theory of hiding in plain sight.

All the while, Blayre could see Fletcher keeping a wary eye on Caval as they traveled, and her fellow Seeker never left her alone with the sorcerer for more than a few moments. She appreciated the security that Fletcher was offering, but it made it difficult for her to ask Caval why he'd and how he'd ended up on Bartley's side against those mountainers.

On the third evening, the trio made camp and Blayre finally sent Fletcher off to hunt on his own, a stern look paired with her words. He looked reluctant, but obliged, throwing a warning glance Caval's way.

Once Fletcher was out of ear shot, Caval let out a long breath. "Finally. I feel like he's been watching me like a hawk."

"Because he has." Blayre said, no hint of amusement in her voice. The dragonling latched toothlessly onto one of her fingers and she rebuked it with a flick of her other hand on its neck. The young creature let out a small screech of indignation, but ambled away on her short little legs and settled herself with a huff on a small rock that likely still held warmth from the day's sunlight.

Blayre turned to Caval then. "I am going to be straightforward with you, and I need you to be honest with me. Why were you teaming up with Bartley over there?"

Caval did not appear to take any offense to the question, and shrugged, "Survival. Those mountainers – their magic is potent. They draw from a natural source, not an internal source as a sorcerer such as myself or Bartley does. Therefore... their magic source appears to be almost endless"

"Until they drain an entire body of water, trying to make a rainstorm." Blayre said drily.

Caval laughed, "That is the absolute truth. One thing about them – their culture – is that they seem to have a great respect for nature. They believe that taking too much from nature will offset the balance of things – which it likely will. So most of their magical practices seem to be quite limited, unless they deem a cause worthy of making that sacrifice."

"Which, apparently, reclaiming a dragon egg was." Blayre sighed, glancing at the listless dragonling. The thing seemed so innocent and harmless right now. She was very glad that she hadn't killed it, but at the same time, wondered if she had made a vast mistake.

"At any rate, I knew I could take Bartley on my own, but I didn't think that I could handle them. So I told him I'd help him get the egg back, if he'd speak well of my actions when we returned to Conal in the Capital."

Blayre sucked in a breath, remembering, "Cav. Did you...did you know Conal knows what I am, and that he was planning to arrange a marriage between us. I overheard Bartley and Hans talking..." She trailed off and looked away, embarrassment clouding her face.

Caval was silent and still beside her. Both watched the steady rise and fall of the dragonling's chest as it slept.

"I knew." He said finally, and Blayre's head whipped to him, golden eyes piercing. He held up a hand when her lips parted to speak, holding off the torrent of words that might have spilled from her.

"I knew, but I did not plan to act on it. Not against your will, Blayre. Never against your will. I did use it as leverage to get away from the Capital and bring you to the caverns. Blayre, I'm part of a gods-damned rebel movement. I'm not on Conal's side on this. He wants all mages to continue to be marked. And I suspect that he wants that because he wants to be the one to continue to control them."

Blayre sighed out a breath, "Was that kiss... down in the caverns. Was that real?"

Caval let out a bark of laughter, and Blayre colored, wishing she hadn't even asked. But then he placed a hand on her chin and gently turned her to look at him. His dark eyes were crinkled at the outer corners in mirth.

"It was real," He said with a close-mouthed smile. "Though I admit, that it was also a small act of relieved desperation."

Despite herself, Blayre smiled. "Okay." She said, "Just as long as you're serious that you won't be turning me in to the Crown sorcerer, and forcing me to marry you any time soon."

"I won't even force you to kiss me until you're ready again. If you're ever ready. Blayre, my intentions are usually good. I might do things on occasion that don't seem well-intentioned, but they are usually done to achieve the best possible results."

"And the best possible result wouldn't be to marry me?" Blayre joked.

But Caval was serious, "Blayre, that result would only be the best, if it was something that the both of us eventually wanted. Don't ever feel obligated to me in any way. I can tell that your trust will have to be earned back, and I hope that in time, I will earn it through my day to day actions. For now, let us focus on getting this dragonling – and ourselves – to safety."

Blayre nodded, "I think that we are going to have to go further than Port Roubeles."

I think you are right, Caval sighed. "I've already considered it."

"That was mostly why I wanted to take the dragonling there. We could book passage if we need to."

"As long as the Crown doesn't have a price on our heads by the time we've reached there. Once they have – if they have already – we will need to focus on a more elaborate disguise."

****

The mood for the rest of the journey to the port city was lighter, after their talk. Fletcher seemed to remain guarded, but less like an overprotective and hovering older brother and more like a concerned friend.

A light blanket of guilt rested on her shoulders when she looked at Fletcher. She and Caval had agreed not to discuss the potential of booking passage out of Emares once they reached the port city. She didn't know if Fletcher would even want to come, though she wondered if he had much choice now. Thanks to her, he'd probably be accused of abandonment of his Crown employed position as a Seeker. He could lie and say that he had tried to force Blayre to come back with the dragon... but that was risky. She didn't know Briannon's leadership style well, and wasn't sure how much the Queen relied on Conal, or how much she was influenced by the Crown Sorcerer.

Caval had suggested drugging Fletcher's drink one night and leaving him behind the next morning while he slept soundly, but Blayre had squashed that idea immediately. She would let Fletcher make the choice when he was good and ready.

She was glad that Ainslee wasn't with them... in a way. She did miss her friend's enthusiastic presence. But Blayre didn't want to affect anyone else's life with her own choices. And right now it looked as though that choice might be to leave the country she had grown up in and served for most of her life.

They took turns carrying the dragonling, who was heavier than Blayre would have liked. Dove tolerated the unusual creature that added weight to her back, but no more than that. She flicked back a suspicious ear every so often when the dragonling was seated in front of Blayre.

The young dragon certainly exhibited a significant amount of intelligence. It looked at the world around them with complete attentiveness, letting out intermittent chirps and squeaks to a point where Blayre and Caval decided that they had to come up with a new glamour for her since her noises didn't sound at all like the mewling of a cat. Caval could have attempted to alter this as well, but it was already taking a considerable amount of magic to maintain the current glamour. Though Blayre couldn't see it, when she touched the dragonling, she could feel a tingling layer over the creature's body.

"Maybe a large bird of prey?" Fletcher suggested. Since the young dragon had already surpassed the size of a cat, this seemed like the best alternative.

Caval wanted to make her appear as one of the large southern isle parrots. But Blayre objected to that, thinking that a bird with multicolored feathers would draw just as much attention as a baby dragon.

****

The small group rode into Port Roubeles, tired, covered in road dust, and ready to be done with this journey. At least Blayre was. Though she knew with some reluctance that the journey had really only begun.

The summer sea breeze that tickled her nose was welcome, even in the heat of summer. She had never missed a city more. She might be mountain-born, but the siren song of the ocean called to her and she had fallen in love with it.

The dragonling flared her nostrils at the briny ocean scent – or perhaps at other scents that Blayre couldn't herself pick up with her human nose. She flapped her wings which were slowly becoming more proportionate to her small body.

They rented rooms within a building in the merchant district of town, bordering on the black market Moras District. They didn't exactly want to align themselves with the shady characters that wove in and out of the dark alleys and ram-shackle shops, but also didn't have a never-ending supply of coin to stay on the nicer end of town.

Luckily, Caval had connections. The Unmarked rebellion was not limited to the rebel camp up in the mountains. The rebel group, it seemed, had a rather large foothold in the port city, which made Blayre feel safer than it probably would have a few weeks prior. Having something to hide from the Crown, meant they all had something in common.

Fletcher was sent off to obtain an inexpensive meal for them, as well as other provisions, and to listen in to see if any rumors had preceded them on the road here. Blayre hoped that wasn't the case. They had traveled swiftly and efficiently with no hindrances.

They would have to trust Fletcher soon with details of the rebellion. Caval wasn't about to expose the location of the mountain camp, but it was important that if Fletcher was travelling with them – if he was making this sacrifice to his life and livelihood – they owed it to him to tell him exactly what was going on. And to prove to him that they had a support network to get them out of the at once peaceful realm.

Caval took his leave of their rented apartment, venturing off to meet with his contacts in this city and to secure a passage for them to the Southern Isles. To a place where they could start fresh, and get away from this for a time. A place where they could take time to figure out exactly what the next step was – something that had to be carefully thought out when one had a creature in tow that had been previously thought to be extinct or legendary.

Blayre looked down at the small dragonling. "I suppose I should come up with a name for you," she said. The dragon squeaked at her as if in agreement. Blayre scooped the dragonling onto her lap, petting down its gray-blue scales. Caval had read that baby dragons started out mostly grayish, or some variation of a neutral color as a way of protection, but that as they grew into their much larger adult bodies, and into their much more powerful magic, their hides took on more vibrant shades of the colors that peeked through in their scales as hatchlings.

Blayre looked out the window, where she could see a swift descent of multicolored rooftops, and further to the sea. The sky reflected off of it, the same blue as the dragonling's lighter belly scales – one day she might even blend into that sky to anyone trying to catch a glimpse from below her as she flew.

Blayre recalled a time when her father had told her about the oceanside city of Port Roubeles. "How blue is the ocean, da?" Young Blayre had asked. Ever inquisitive, and searching for information about the unknown world.

"Sometimes, the ocean isn't so much blue at all. Sometimes it's teal green, like the head of one of the male ducks we see near the lakes here at Blumore. But sometimes, on a very clear day, the sky is remarkably blue, and the ocean too. There's a coastline across the water from Port Roubeles, the Azure Coast – named so because the water there is the clear blue of the sky."

"I want to see that place." Blayre had said.

Lord Darach had chuckled, "Set your sights high, Blayre, and perhaps someday you will."

"Azure," Blayre said to the dragonling. "I will call you Azure, because one day, you will be the blue of the sky."