Chapter 41: Destiny and Romance

After running off on him so suddenly, Kelyn failed to return to the nest that night, so early the next morning. Morvyn tracked her to a watering hole favored by the local fauna. And, judging by the heavy floral scent lingering in the air, favored by Aymeri and Ico as a romantic hideaway.

As he approaches, Kelyn glances quickly in his direction, and immediately turns her eyes away again when she recognizes him. "You ran off on me," Morvyn says, "And you didn't go back to the nest."

"Don't worry," she answers, her voice brittle, her head turned determinedly away from him, "I won't tell anyone what I saw, or what you told me. About your mortal lover."

"That's not why I came looking for you," Morvyn replies, "Kelyn," he says her name, trying to get her to look at him.

Kelyn rises suddenly. "There's nothing else to say," she says as she walks away.

Morvyn grabs her arm, stopping her, and that, finally gets her attention. She turns to face him, glaring at his interference. "There is a lot more to say," he says, holding fast to her arm as she tries to pull away, only letting her go when she finally turns her whole body toward him, and stops trying to leave.

"I threw myself at you," Kelyn says, frustration giving an edge to her voice, "And you rejected me.  Isn't that humiliation enough? Do we really have to discuss it further?"

"You shouldn't be humiliated," Morvyn, surprised by her reaction, "And I did not reject you," he adds, firmly. "Listen, in the past few days I've been betrayed and captured by the dragonslayer, witnessed the death of my nest brother and expected to meet the same fate. When I confessed to you how this all happened, how my involvement with a mortal brought my captivity and Talfryn's attempt to rescue me about, the absolute last thing I would have expected was for you to kiss me like that.

Kelyn shifts her weight, biting her lips as she takes in his words, "I'd come looking for you last night, because I wanted..." she backs off from completing that thought, from from fully confessing her feelings, and starts again, hesitantly, "Seeing you with that mortal girl..." Kelyn stops again, still not happy with where her words are taking her, "I just got caught up in my emotions, and acted on impulse," she finishes, still not feeling like she's gotten her point across at all, but at a loss for words to continue. "I'm sorry," she adds a hasty apology, her eyes lowered as she wishes she could just disappear into a dark cave to get away from this embarrassing situation.

With her eyes cast down, Keyn doesn't see the slight smile that plays on Morvyn's lips as she stammers  through her unfinished sentences, or the light in his eyes that shows how much he understands of the things she failed to say. But she does hear the amusement in his voice as he says, "You wouldn't be a dragon if you didn't act on your impulses."

Feeling like he's mocking her, she raises her eyes, flashing angrily like sudden lightning, "And you," she accuses, "You put your whole nest, and all dragons everywhere, in danger by chasing after mortal girls."

"Yes, I have," Morvyn admits sadly, his smile dying on his lips. He takes her arm again, guiding her to the pond's bank to sit beside him. "Though it's tens of thousands of years ago now, I remember the first most vividly," he begins his tale.

"I was at the first light of dawn, and I came upon her bathing. I can still see it, the way the light played on her, on the water...I can sill hear the joy in her laughter. I should have walked away without letting her see me, but instead, I followed my impulse, and joined her in the water. The humans were more primitive then, as we were, I suppose. They had no towns, and were still so few in number. They had only just begun planting crops rather than foraging in the forest. When I showed myself to her, she took me for a forest spirit, and was honored that I'd chosen her," Morvyn smiles to himself as he tells a story he's never told anyone, "What she felt for me was almost worship, and I confess, it went right to my head. But even so, I was very cautious then, about where and when we'd meet, so that we wouldn't be caught, by her people or mine, because either would bring trouble. Eventually, she stopped coming for me, when she took a mate of her own kind, and started a family. Our affair remained a secret."

"And it wasn't long before I found another to take her place. And another when that one was done with me. With each girl, my confidence that I would not be discovered grew, and I took less precautions. So, by the fourth girl, a descendant of my first, I simply assumed I could carry on as I liked without being discovered."

"Who found you?" Kelyn asks, knowing where this heading.

"Ametair. He often hunted on the edges of the the human villages. Even then, he liked to keep an eye on their growth, as their villages spread further and wider, and more trees were felled  to accommodate their fields, and he would frighten them from hunting too deep into 'his' woods. I had met with my girl before dawn, while her people and mine still slept, but I lingered longer than was wise, into the later hours of morning, and Ametair came upon us. He frightened that poor girl so badly she never left the safety of her village, or spoke to me, ever again."

"But he obviously didn't frighten you from your path," Kelyn observes.

"No, he didn't," Morvyn answers with a wry smile, "Our wolfen brother keeps mostly to himself, and lives by his own law. I was able to convince him to keep my secret, if only because he respects privacy more than the rules or order of the nest. But I was more cautious after that, and stayed away from mortals for quite a few centuries."

"Only a few centuries?" Kelyn laughs.

"Aye. I meant to stay away forever, but I was inevitably tempted again. And again. I did at least learn to be more vigilant, and was able to carry on this way for several centuries before I slipped up once again and was discovered, this time by Talfryn," Morvyn's voice quavers as he speaks his nest brother's name, the pain of his death still cutting deeply, "Talfryn and I were like brothers, loyal to each other above anything else. And, while I had been skirting the law for millennia to pursue my desires, for Talfryn, breaking rules was a sport unto itself. He not only swore to protect my secret, but had become my ally in it, standing guard for me when I'd have my trysts. It was like a game to him." Morvyn falls silent, still blaming himself for his brother's death.

"The mortals have such short lives, and the one you loved would leave you long before their deaths. Didn't that hurt?" Kelyn wonders.

"No more than than the end of a good day does," Morvyn answers, "We'd take our pleasure and enjoy it for what it was. Human beliefs evolved over time, and I went in their eyes from being a forest spirit to being a 'wilder', but whatever they thought I was, I was always outside their society, not someone they could engage in serious courtship with."

"Courtship?" Kelyn tries out the unfamiliar word.

"It's a human word," Morvyn says with a smile, "For a very human concept, outside the ken of dragons. Humans mate for life, as we do, but before they choose a mate, they have a period of courtship, where they spend time with a prospective mate, engage in love play, get to know each other. At least, they do that some of the time. I don't always understand what girls would tell me, but I gathered that they aren't as regimented as dragons are, that they have different customs and rules that bend and change depending on the situation. And, unlike dragons, they will sometimes take lovers they don't intend to be mated to at all. I've even heard that they sometimes have 'arranged mariages', where they are mated to someone they may have never met all."

"That sounds familiar," Kelyn says with a frown, "And it's somethiing we've both avoided," he adds, thinking of his words to her last night when she kissed them, that they didn't know each other well enough for that, "You like this 'courtship'," she surmises, "And you would prefer not to take a mate without it."

"I would want to know a female before I became to joined to her for life," he answers, his blue eyes meeting hers.

He said he wasn't rejecting her when he pushed her away, and taking that with all he's told her today, Kelyn sees the chance she's been given. She's never been good with talking, preferring action or quiet observation, a trait her Alfar friends often teased her for. But if she wants Morvyn, she's going to have to try. So, taking a deep breath to get her started Kelyn begins her own tale, "I felt much the same, when I came of age. There were a few males close to my age in the nests nearest my mother's when I was growing up, and as we began to mature, they began to show off for me, competing with each other to impress me, all hoping that they might be chosen as my First when I came of age. I'd spent enough time with them all that I was friends with them, but the thought of being mated for life to any of them, or all of them, since, though they all wanted to be First, they probably wouldn't have turned away from being Second, Third or Fourth, given that all the other females for miles around were older and had large, established nests, it was just something I couldn't really imagine. I assumed that when my first fertility cycle happened, I would be ready, as if by magic, that I would feel that urge to mate and nest. But when it happened, all I felt was..." Kelyn bites her lip, hesitates, "Nothing. I felt no different that I had when I was a juvenile. I didn't want to have a child, or be tied to a nest. I wanted something else, though I couldn't quite put what I wanted into words. My mother said I was being immature and foolish, and that I couldn't deny my duty as a female dragon, to start a nest and breed more dragons."

"Other elder females said much the same thing. And those who wouldn't tell me to my face what they thought of my choice whispered about me behind my back. So, I left dragon territory and lived among the Alfar. Ceyrth taught me to use a bow, and to fight with sword, daggers and even axes."

"You must be close, for him to follow you all the way here," Morvyn says softly, his tone asking an unspoken question.

"We were lovers for a time," Kelyn answers truthfully, "Alfar are different from both dragons and the mortals. They do grow old and die, as the humans do, but their lives are much longer than theirs, by thousands of years. And they don't mate for life. They form temporary relationships, long enough to raise a few children, and in most cases they part after their offspring have come of age, and find new partners. Ceyrth's partnership with his daughter's mother had recently ended when I came to live among his people, and he was curious about me as I was about..." Kelyn blushes and drops her voice. Morvyn squeezes her hand gently, letting her know she doesn't have say it. "After a few decades, he moved on to take another partner, an Alfar woman. Alfar always remain close to their former partners, and so it was, and is, with Ceyrth and I. We're good friends, to this day. But he didn't follow me here for my companionship. When he heard I was traveling south with what remained of Inira's nest to our ancestral homeland, he asked to come along so he could meet a fairy, face to face."

"And why did you decide to make this journey?" Morvyn asks.

"I had lived among the Alfar for centuries, as one of their own, and not ruled by the cycle of fertility that determines our destiny as females. But that didn't make me immune from experiencing the cycle; in the first half century, it came every decade or so. Then, it fell off. Rapidly. First, fifty years went by between cycles, then a century. I started to worry I may have lost my chance. I hadn't wanted to have a child immediately after coming of age, but I did want a child someday. When I began to fear I might never be able to, that's when I wanted one most. So, I went back to my mother's nest, and thought I would choose a mate at last. But of course, the males I had grown up with hadn't waited for me, they were all mated now, brothers in other females' nests. The only unmated males were juveniles. And, so very immature, I couldn't imagine myself mated to any of them. My mother and the other elders laughed at my concerns, and said you grow used to taking young males into your nest."

"But you're different from your mother and the other females," Morvyn finishes for her, "And they all have the benefit of having taken their first mates when they were just come of age themselves."

Kelyn nods, "I wanted a nest, and to have a child. But not to be mated to one. Still, I didn't think I'd have any other option, and was trying to resign myself to it. And that's when Inira told me about you. She and Fearghus had just lost their Second to the dragonslayer a few years before, and then their eldest son, who was now one of my mother's mates fell to his sword that month, and they had decided to return to the safety of the lands they'd grown up in, where mortals don't hunt our kind for sport. Or, didn't, anyway, until the dragonslayer showed up here." Kelyn adds with a solemn frown.

Morvyn considers telling her about the mistake she'd made, that she killed the dragonslayer's brother and their enemy still lives. Once she knows, she'll want to try again, Morvyn is certain of that, and he'll be there to help her. But he doesn't want to lose this moment to the dragonslayer, and so keep that's knowledge to himself for now, instead asking a more important question, "Did you come all this way for me?"

"To meet you, at least," Kelyn says, "I wouldn't let my expectations rise any higher than that. Your sister praised you highly, and said she believed that I would be what you needed, as much as you would be what I needed. But I thought, how could she know something like that? And I thought maybe she'd taken in too many Alfar songs which are all full of destiny and romance, despite their fickle nature. But traveling did seem a better option for me than staying. I would see our homeland, at least. And if Inira proved to be right about us..." Kelyn bites her lip. They had moved closer together as they told their tales, and were now sitting close enough that her shoulder rested against his. All she had to do was turn her head slightly to brush her lips against his neck, "I told myself you would probably fall far short of the image Inira was trying to paint for me. But when I first saw you..."

"I remember that," Morvyn says, "I was bathing in a river."

Kelyn blushes a deep red. "Is this 'courtship' now?" she asks.

"It is," Morvyn answers, pulling her back against his chest and kissing her.

Agneta sits quietly through dinner, having no part in the evening's conversation. Her father and brother brought her to Odet to be married, but with war on the horizon, planning for battle is all the men wish to discuss

Even the haggling over her dowry and bride price were settled quickly as Gherrart Landgraab and Reinbolt Goth forged the alliance between their families by uniting their children in marriage. The Landgraabs have spread themselves over the continent, Gherrart's sons have extended their family's influence through conquest, and her father wants to tie his line to theirs. Reinier Langraab will take her as his wife, and her brother Gunterus, her father's youngest son and heir to nothing, will come along to serve as his knight, with the hope of securing his own lands and place in a world dominated by Landgraabs.

The men may not be thinking of her coming marriage, but it's very much on Agneta's mind. She's met her betrothed a few times before this marriage was contracted, in the company of her parents, but never spoken a word directly to him. He's slain dragons, she thinks, and a thrill courses down her spine, he's fierce, strong and dangerous. But will he be gentle to her? He's beautiful to look one, one of the handsomest men she's ever laid eyes on. But will he be a good husband? A good father to the children she will bear him?

As though he read her thoughts, Reinier turns to her then, sliding his hand across the table as though he means to take hers, but stopping just short of touching her. Which is proper, of course, sitting as she is across from her father and brother, and still a maiden. He smiles at her, just enough to make her blush, before turning his attention back to the other men and their battle plans.

After the dinner is over, Agneta walks out to Odet's church of the Watcher to meditate on her fate. She will be married here, and this will be her Church, her town, her people. No longer just a daughter, she will be the wife of a great man, a Lady to a Lord, just as her mother has raised her to be. Her brother has come here to make his fortune in war, but Agneta is here to meet her destiny. She's ready for this, she knows this in her heart, because she's been preparing for it all her life.

"You are very pious," Reinier observes, coming in on her meditation.

Agneta smiles slightly at the thought that the great dragonslayer followed her into the church, just to talk with her. "I am, my Lord," she confirms, "The Watcher has blessed me greatly, and I am grateful."

Reinier sits on the bench beside his betrothed. "You'll make an excellent wife," he says, taking her hand as he wraps his other arm around her shoulder. He's been reminding himself all evening of all the qualities his betrothed possesses, her beauty, her gentle nature, her obedience...she's perfect in every way, he thinks, trying to force the memory of Sterren out of his mind. He was a fool to think she'd be a suitable wife for him, and like other lovers he had in the past, courtesans and peasant girls, it's time for him to leave her behind.

"I will try my best, my Lord," Agneta says with a muffled giggle, and then rises to pull out of his embrace, "But we are not yet married, and this a sacred place," she reminds him.

Reinier smiles at her propriety. So unlike Sterren, he thinks, and tries to consider it as praise.

"If I promise to behave, will you allow me to walk with you? I'd like to show you the town you will rule."

Agneta agrees to his offer, and even allows him to hold her hand as they stroll through Odet's cobbled alleys.

"That statue, that's an image of the false goddess worshipped by the locals here, isn't it?" Agneta observes as they come upon a house with a female figure displayed in front of it, holding a basket which symbolized the bounty offered by the Lady to her worshippers.

"Father Jakob struggles diligently to bring the word of the Watcher to the people here, but many of them persist in the old beliefs. If this image offends you, I can order it torn down," Reinier offers.

Agneta stands in contemplation for a moment, and then says, "When you take a toy away from a child, they want it even more, and won't even look at other, better toys so long as the one they lost is denied them. I think it's best that you don't order their superstitious images destroyed or forbid them their worship. Instead, you should let them hold onto their false goddess, while at the same letting them see the greater benefits enjoyed by those who follow the Watcher, so that they eventually abandon the false religion for the True one."

"That's always been our policy. And it's easier done in the cities further north or east of here. These people are much more deeply rooted in their beliefs. There are even some among their priesthood who practice witchcraft," Reinier says, surprised to find himself having such a serious discussion with his future wife, "I have one such a man in prison now. Father Jakob wishes to see him burned for his sin."

"If he has followers who love him, it would be better to have him confess and make public obeisance to the Watcher," Agneta says, adding, "Wouldn't it, my Lord?" as though she had some doubt on the matter and she would defer to his judgment.

Reinier nods, "The trouble is getting that confession from him. He persists in denying practicing witchcraft, while at the same time clinging to his faith in the Lady. When my brother ruled here, he was more tolerant of the local beliefs. But we're preparing for war now, and our enemies are all practitioners of the old religion. Though this fight is not about faith, it will no doubt play a great role. I cannot trust the loyalty of anyone not in the Watcher's flock."