¤ Brotherhood ¤
part 4: enter Jödaan and Réeliei

by Neishai

Not everyone present at during Charnath and Chielath's hatching and the subsequent feast could be considered guests of the Cathair. As always, there was a bustle of activity behind the scenes, but several residents and workers had made a little time to witness this most extraordinary of events.

A young man wiped his brow with a piece of patterned cloth, breathing heavier than normal for the heavy load he had carried just moments before. The sea's latest bounty had been brought up by wagon, but there was a certain point where human hands were forced to carry the crates, barrels, and boxes themselves. Jödaan and his coworkers were all strong young men and boys, all of whom had learned from a very young age how to carry a load properly. In some cases, they almost didn't really need a paard's assistance. This was not one of those times.

Jödaan stood with some of his friends watching the hatching. A few of them weren't even paying attention; instead they gossiped and engaged in horseplay (keeping it down to a dull roar out of respect for the other spectators) which irritated Joe. He had always loved watching, for the thought of flying over the seas waving his sword over his head had always excited him.

He stood with his jaw clenched in an effort to swallow several acidic comments. One of the candidates had caught his eye, a boy with black ringlets crowned with a dark-colored beret, and they were distracting him from his intensive ogling.

"Hey, Joe! Look at this!"

"Not now." He blinked, watching intently as a hatchling Black made his way over to the candidates. Such a handsome dragon! he thought. Silently, he cheered the boy on, willing a connection--

"Joe!"

"What?!" he flared, impaling a platinum-blonde youth with his blazing eyes. His normally soft-brown eyes were hardened as chiseled flint.

Shrinking back, the other, a sweet-faced boy, waved a warding hand. The rest of their pals had fallen silent. "Nevermind!"

He stifled an impatient sigh, rolling his eyes as he turned his head back toward the sands below. Some fuzzy guy was imprinting his shining new Copper. Where was the Black? And that unbelievably cute boy? There was no way to know if they had found one another, for the sands were now several candidates short. This time he couldn't swallow his disappointment. Sometimes a hatching was like a sport, where the spectators picked a winner, betting on the pairs-to-be. Joe had bet no money, but neither had he seen his winning pair.

Chewing on the inside of a cheek, he turned to leave with everyone else. The boys shuffled their feet, realizing that they had nothing to do until their supervisor had worked out a going price for the load of fish and other goods. He turned to his friend Réeliei, the one he had snapped at earlier, a boy he had known since they were 'knee-high to a kiliwaaja fly.' "Hey, I'm sorry about that. I--"

The boy grinned amiably, slapping him on the back. "No problem, Joe. You had this look in your eye. I pay attention to these things…when I stop to think about it," he smiled sheepishly. "There was someone special down there, wasn't there?"

They shared a laugh. "Yeah. Problem is, I don't know if he got the dragon or not."

"Well why don't you go find out," a new voice boomed. The boys jumped (Joe's face glowing magenta) and turned to look up at a middle-aged man. "You see," he said with a shrewd grin, "we're a little short-handed with the hatchlings. Some are hungrier than we anticipated. You both look strong, do you think you could help haul some meat?"

"Um,"

"Er…"

The boys looked at one another excitedly; both had dreamed of seeing so many dragons up close. They had some free time, so why not? In unison they cried, "Yeah!"

¤ ¤ ¤

Sumuru gazed at her amazing female Black with guarded adoration. Just because she and Piosa had bonded did not mean she could relax just yet. In fact, with Piosa's Guastatoth, perhaps she had twice the reason to remain alert. She glanced over to the side, watching Piosa try to feed her Lavender with gloved hands by dropping a chunk of meat directly into the dragon's mouth. Sumuru shook her head and sighed, turning back to her own dragon, to find her gazing back at her intently.

You have me now, Sumuru. She flinched, having forgotten that she was linked mind-to-mind with Wachterth. The hatchling Black gazed up at her with a similar expression to what Sumuru had worn just moments before. We are a team. You have to rest sometime.

It's a deal then, Wachterth agreed, eyes glimmering eagerly as Sumuru retrieved a bucket of meat from the boy standing over her.

What a radiant smile. Jödaan nearly dropped the bucket as the boy took it from his hand. No matter that Réeliei had had to literally push him through the door to hand out a second round of food for the hatchlings, there was no way he would move from this spot now that he was here.

He knew that smile was not specifically for him, but what if it was? "Ah…"

Sumuru paused with her hand in the air, hovering above her dragon's mouth. Catch-and-toss with a piece of meat was both a game and early training (as well as practice for the girl). Wachterth was left in place with her mouth hanging open, saliva dribbling from her baby teeth, while her bondmate turned around in her seat. "Yeah?"

"Ahm…er…"

Ahh…ahh… The hatchling squirmed hungrily. Oh please don't let this take long…

"Is somethin' wrong?" Sumuru dropped the meat back in the bucket and gave her full attention to the orange-haired boy in front of her. Her body was deceptively relaxed, with just the right amount of tenseness to convey innocent concern. Inwardly, her agitation was more profound, and her eyes were a little harder than they should have been.

"Oh no, of course not." Joe was more nervous than he was used to being. He was positively quaking. Why was it so difficult to relax? To talk? Maybe even to flirt, though this probably wasn't the time. "It's just that… Well, I had this feeling. When you were out there, and your dragon hatched," he gestured to Wachterth, "that you two would bond." He shrugged, a flush running from the tip of his nose, across his cheeks, and down his neck.

"Really?" Sumuru shook her head, taken aback. When the boy nodded, she spluttered a little. "But…how? I mean, I haven't heard o' such a thing."

He shrugged helplessly. He hadn't expected such a positive response. Even though it was true in a way, he decided to keep this sort of pick-up line in the future. It was a thought borne out of habit.

Sumuru caught a flicker of deceit in his body language, subtle yet noticeable to the trained eye. Instantly she was on guard.

Wachterth grumbled audibly, picking up on her train of thought. I don't like him… I'm really hungry, she added impatiently.

She nodded to her dragon.

Joe shook his head smiled sheepishly, oblivious to their discussion but aware of the dragon's hungry whimpering. "What am I thinking? I hand you your dragon's dinner then keep him from it."

"Her."

"Eh, pardon?"

Sumuru smirked. "Wachterth is female. It's an easy mistake t' make," she added in response to his expression of complete confusion. "I've never heard o' such a thing either, but she's pretty special," she said, scratching her cheek and head fondly.

"Yeah…" he said softly. "Anyway, I'll see you around." He waved and backed away.

"Mmkay… Hey, wait."

"Yeah?"

"You never told me yer name. How 'm I supposed t' talk t' ya when I 'see ya 'round?' Should I just address ya as 'Hey you'?"

"Ahhhh…right!" His grin widened; if one of the suns had ever sputtered, that smile could have jumpstarted it back to life. "It's Jödaan."

"Well. Glad t' meet ya, Jödaan. I'm Sumuru, the proud bond of Black Wachterth. We'll see ya 'round." She grinned, taking his hand in a vise-like handshake.

When he had gone, Sumuru felt the presence of another. Gentle, expensive perfume and a ruffle of skirts told her that it was Piosa. With a soft chuckle, Piosa said quietly, "Looks like someone has an admirer."

This time, Sumuru did not stop feeding her dragon. Even Piosa had finished with Guastatoth, who despite her gentility had eaten her fill of dinner. Sumuru did however glance up at her. "Now why would y' say that?"

"Well my friend, just because. My deduction does however take into account the fact that he is looking at you with such longing eyes. I have to admit, I am a little jealous. Oh, no, don't look!" Sumuru felt a hand on her arm. "The last thing you want to do is let him know you're onto him."

Sumuru narrowed her eyes. "Well, what do I care what he thinks anyway?" she asked gruffly.

Piosa patted her on the arm. "Good question," she said, rising from her seat. "Why don't you glare at him or something then?"

Sumuru looked up as Piosa went to sit with Guastatoth, both reclining comfortably and taking in their surroundings. They were obviously waiting for her to finish feeding Wachterth.

She glanced the other way with hardened eyes and confirmed Piosa's statement. Jödaan was in fact watching her out of the corner of his eye as he passed a bucket around, and when he saw her look up, he met her gaze with something like hope that she had never encountered before. At least, never aimed at her. She narrowed her eyes into a nasty glare but couldn't hold it for long. She blushed and turned away, gritting her teeth.

Oh, great.

¤ ¤ ¤