"Noe! Noin! No!" Ira turned desperately trying to stop the chaos her two reds were causing.
Jessela smiled and continued reading her book. "You only have Noe and Noin, Ira. If you keep mentioning this 'No' character you're going to confuse them."
Kilara, Jessela's silver, stretched her wings and smirked. Like confusing them would be hard.
Normally a dragonrider could only hear their own dragon speaking, but through Yanta, a green both Ira and Jessela had bonded, Kilara's words flowed into Ira's mind. The Crown Knight spun to face the silver. "You! You should be leading this manuver, not me!"
Noe and Noin landed perfectly, but Noin was limping. Their mid-air collesion was minor, but still painful. Have you even got your lazy hide off the ground today Kilara? Noe glared at her sister.
The silver glared at them both and leapt to the air. I don't need as much practice as you two, but I can fly circles around both of you when needed!
The two reds exchanged a look, and leapt to the air, not to be outdone.
Ira sighed and Jessela smiled. "At least you got Kilara into the air." The princess offered weakly.
"If we're going to convince your father that this Rift Knights thing is a good idea, we're going to need to show him that we can work effectively as a unit!" Ira slammed her fist on a table.
Mothers? Yanta, their green, raised her head. Who is this Father you keep talking about? Everytime one of you mentions his name I get feelings of fear and dread from both of you! Is he going to hurt you?
Jessela hugged the green's head. "Of course not darling. He's just going to be.......angry."
"And we're not your mothers!" Ira snapped at the green dragon.
Yanta's eyes filled with tears. Jessela hugged the creature again. "Shhh darling. Ira's just mad about something else, she didn't mean to snap at you. She'll apologize." The princess looked expectantly at her bodyguard.
Ira glared at her best friend before sighing and rolling her eyes. "I'm sorry." The green still looks hurt and Ira's harsh defense crack. "I really am, love." Ira patted the green's side and exchanged a worried look with Jessela. They'd talked with Mystic and Magika about Yanta and her .... childish behaviour. Unfortunately, no one had ever heard of a single dragon bonding to two seperate people and, therefore, no own knew if this was normal. Magika had a theory about Yanta having problems dealing with two seperate thought patterns and so she couldn't mature past a certain point. Mystic thought that maybe Yanta couldn't develop past a certain point because the relationship between dragon and rider could only develop so far when the dragon had two different riders. Jessela seemed fine with the idea of 'her baby' never growing up. Ira was beginning to think that maybe greens were just stupid.
Ira! Noin landed flapping her tail dramatically. Let's call it a day and have dinner.
Yes! Noe added enthusiastically. The King will just have to live with our manuvers as they are now! Let's eat! The two red marched off to the feeding grounds.
Lazy reds. You'd think that they were actually doing work! Kilara snorted before joining her sisters.
Yanta didn't move. She stayed lying down with her head in Jessela's arms. "C'mon." Ira finally added, a sad tone to her voice. "Dinner." Yanta looked up expectantly and followed her 'mothers' to her dinner.
Ira vengefully stripped off her armour and threw it, piece by piece, at the Warren's rock wall. Finally, wearing nothing but a shift and having nothing left to throw, she punched the wall and sat on her bed sucking her bleeding knuckles.
Jessela sighed. "What are you mad about now? My father? Yanta? Noe? Noin? Kilara? Me?"
Ira glared at her. "Who says I'm mad?"
Jessela raised an eyebrow and pointed to the armour lying scattered across the floor. "You usually just drop it, not throw it."
Ira couldn't help but smirk. "Wise guy." The Knight sighed and laid back on her bed. "I guess I'm mad at everything tonight. The fact that Noe and Noin aren't perfect, Kilara gets on my nerves, Yanta gets on my nerves, and she doesn't even know it!" Ira clenched her fists. "I guess I just can't help but feel that when we show up on your father's doorstep with dragons, three years after disappearing in a forest, we're going to look like idiots!" The fuming woman stood up and began pacing the large room that she shared with her best friend. "This idea about Rift Knights is sounding stupider and stupider. We can't get three dragons to fly in a triangle! How will ever get 10 or 12 or however many dragons there are in a blasted pack to even fly in the same direction?!? And Yanta! What the hell are we supposed to do with a fully grown dragon who thinks she's still and egg! When we finally go back we won't have to worry about your father rejecting the idea, he'll laugh us out of the kingdom and back over the Rift!!"
Jessela stood up, fixed Ira with one of her 'I'm the princess and you're the idiot' looks and slapped her friend hard. Ira looked stunned, but stopped ranting. Jessela felt tears coming to her eyes. "Every other night you rant about how this isn't going to work. Every other night I have to convince you that it will. Your armour has more dents in it from the wall then fighting any more Ira. You didn't want to come here, you didn't want to bond and now you don't want to go back. You seem to hate everything, including me." Ira tried to cut in, but Jessela wouldn't let her. "I know you'll never say it, but you believe it. I'm the one who ran off into the woods, I'm the one who wouldn't go back to my kingdom with Magika, I'm the one who convinced you to stay around for the hatching!" Jessela's voice caught in her throat as she tried to swallow her tears. "I think I know why Yanta can't mature past hatchling stage! It's because we're not even friends anymore!" Jessela covered her face with her hands and ran, crying, from the room.
Ira watched her friend leave, tears in her own eyes. She swallowed and wiped her eyes. "That's not what I meant Jess." She whispered to her friend's absence. "The thought never even crossed my mind..."
Jessela sat sobbing to herself in one of the Warren's many gardens. She'd been alone 'thinking' for almost two hours, but she couldn't stop herself from crying long enough to form any coherent thought. She just wanted all the pain to go away. Kilara's head appeared in the garden, the rest of the silver's large body standing in the courtyard behind the garden wall. Jessela? Are you okay? Kilara's normally stern voice was very soft tonight.
Jessela fiddled with a white rose, turning it around and around in her hand until, finally, one of the thorns pricked her. She cried out and began sucking on the small cut. "No, I'm not okay. I haven't been okay for a long time."
The silver smiled. You're pouting and whining. Seems like normal behaviour to me.
Instead of coming up with a witty remark, like the princess would normally, Jessela burst into tears again. "Oh Kilara! I'm horrible like that! I'm whiny and pouty and stuck up and I hit Ira." She sniffled. "She probably hates me now."
Kilara was slightly taken aback by the barage of emotions flying towards her at remarkable speeds. I'm sure Ira doesn't hate you. The silver was at a loss for words, she wasn't really sure how to deal with this situation. You've hit her before and she doesn't hate you. The look Jessela gave her told Kilara that that was the wrong thing to say.
"It's not because I hit her. It's because I got her into this mess."
What mess?
"This mess!" Jessela sweeped her arms in either direction, the single gesture encompassing the entire Warren. "This whole mess, from the day I tried to run away from my arranged marriage."
Did you want to marry Duke whats-his-name? Kilara nudged her rider with her head.
"No." Jessela realized she was pouting again and sighed. "I didn't love him."
You could have learned to love him. Unless you were in love with someone else.
Jessela sighed and rolled her eyes as tears streamed down her face again. "Whose side are you on anyways?"
The dragon smiled softly. Yours. Trust me. So why is this love thing such a big factor?
Jessela looked at her mount like she was crazy. "Well..." She was unsure how to start. "Love doesn't just grow on the spot. It most definately isn't something that just happens over night. It starts off as a feeling. A feeling that you want to get to know the person better. A feeling that this person may be a nice friend. You become friends and you stay friends, forever. Or it seems like forever. You begin to forget what life could have possibly been like with out that person." The princess stopped to stare wistfully off into the evening sky. She sniffled and wiped a tear from her cheek. "And then one day you just realize...Hey, I'm in love. And you know that you can't go a single instant without being near that person and loving that person. The problem is, you're never sure if that person ever loves you, because you've been good friends for so long..." She stopped as she stared off into nothingness, the white rose shredded in her hands. "And everything is perfect.....forever...."
Kilara smiled. Until you hit that person and storm out of your bedroom. Jessela blinked, coming out of her trance. She stared shocked at her bedroom. The dragon smiled, having known all along. Ira is lecturing Noe and Noin in the Flight Fields.
Jessela smiled, surprising both her dragon and herself. She kissed Kilara's nose and turned, grabbing another rose as she ran from the garden.
Oh Jessela! The princess turned around questioningly. Hurry. Yanta's lying in her weyr displaying all the life signs of a pile of jello.
Ira paced back and forth in the Flight Fields while Noe and Noin tried to figure out what was going on. So it's your fault that Jessela hates you? Noe sighed and felt an odd urge to scratch her head.
No! Ira hates Jessela because she hit her. Noin looked to Ira for confirmation.
Ira opened her mouth to say something, but was interupted by Noe. But Jessela was obviously hurt before she hit Ira. That makes Ira the antagonist! The red glared at her sister and snarled quietly.
But it wasn't Ira's fault that Jessela was feeling guilty! Noin continued, growling back at her sister. Within seconds the two reds were tumbling around on the ground, fighting.
Ira sighed and flopped down. She put her head on her knees and felt like throwing up. "Glad I came to you two for advice."
Something gently pricked her skin and she looked up. A white rose was sitting in her lap. She picked it up carefully and looked around. Spotting Jessela wasn't hard.
The princess smiled. "I called your name, but you didn't hear me over Noe and Noin."
Ira looked up at her, surprised. "Oh." She stood and walked towards her friend. "Sorry."
Jessela was at a loss for words. She'd been so eager to get here, but now that she was here all her carefully planned speeches were falling apart. "Um...I guess I want to apologize."
Ira couldn't help but smirk. "I guess I accept, but according to them," She pointed to her dragons, "I think I'm the one who's supposed to be apologizing."
Jessela smiled and blushed. "I think I'm accepting then." Oh god! She quickly looked at the ground. I can't believe this. She's my best friend and I'm acting like a teenager on her first date!
Mothers? Both women were surprised by the green's voice. Why don't you just both say what you came here to say?
Ira's mouth dropped and Jessela flushed even deeper and stared at her toes. Ira put her hand on Jessela's chin and turned her face upwards. "I don't think I've ever seen you blush." She smirked. "You first."
Jessela smiled. "I've found my prince charming, finally. The person who can protect me and who I will be happy with for the rest of my life. The person is even a knight in shining, somewhat dented, armour." Jessela sighed deeply. "There's only one problem."
Ira raised an eyebrow. "And that is?" She could see the stars reflected in Jessela's eyes.
"He's not a he." Jessela barely said the words, but Ira was close enough to hear.
"Personally, I don't see that as a problem." Ira felt light-headed like she was drunk or something. She kissed Jessela on the forehead. "But I do foresee one problem, and I'll make you a deal."
"What?" Jessela stared dreamily up at her.
"I'll tell your father about the Rift Knights if you tell him why we're sharing a room." Ira kissed Jessela and ran towards her dragons. "Alright deal."
"Hey!" Jessela ran after her friend. "Get back here. I agreed to no such thing."
Ira mounted Noe and both the red dragons leapt into the air. Kilara landed just long enough for Jessela to leap on and then was in hot pursuit of her sisters. Yanta flew up beside them.
I talked to Mystic. We're clear to leave any time now. The green dragon flew majestically through the air, like it wasn't her first time.
Ira and Jessela stared amazed at each other. "Yanta..." They whispered the name at the same time.
The green smirked. Everybody's got to grow up sometime. The dragons all laughed and flew back to the Warren, in perfect formation.
Read Ira and Jessela's Hatchling Story! Read Ira and Jessela’s Candidate Story!
Ira and Jessela impressed Noe, Noin, Kilara and Yanta at Mystic Dragon's Forest.
Background from Jolie Joyau's Web Grabphics.
