Dragon Wars: Land Of Myth Chapter Fourteen Part Seven
March 28th, 2011 | Published in Dragon Wars | 5 Comments
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Chapter Fourteen
Part Seven
Salia was woken by Karilya bouncing on her bed. “Wake up! Mummy says that we can have a day off from classes to show Coromel around the wing.” She sounded happy and excited.
“Buh?” Salia blinked sleepily at her as she processed that. “I thought you liked classes?”
“I do! But I like days off as well!” She bounced some more. “Come on! Breakfast is nearly ready.”
“Okay.” Salia sat up and looked over at Coromel. The sylph was lying on her side in her own bed and watching them curiously.
Salia smiled at her. “How are you feeling?”
“Much better, I think,” Coromel replied. “But I still want to know what’s going on.”
“Yeah, me too,” Salia said. “He wants me and the other two for something. I just wish I knew what.”
Karilya frowned thoughtfully at the two of them and then climbed off Salia’s bed. “Come on then, there’s going to be bacon and eggs.” She paused and her frown deepened. “Speakers can eat eggs, can’t they?”
“Yes, they can,” Lyrrekka said from the doorway. “But they need to get washed and dressed first, so leave them in peace for a few minutes.” She looked over at Coromel. “Your clothes were a mess, so I’ve taken the liberty of having some new ones made for you to wear while they are being washed.” She placed a bundle on the dressing table. “I hope you like them.”
“Er… thank you…” Coromel looked at the bundle uncertainly.
“It’s just clothing, I promise,” Lyrrekka said and then turned to Makina, who was standing nearby with her hands folded in front of her. “Bring the girls to my chambers for breakfast once they are ready.”
“Of course, Lyrrekka-alra.” The goblin bowed respectfully.
***
Salia stared at the eggs and meat strips on her plate. It would be edible, certainly, but she’d never seen anything quite like it. “This is an unusual meal.” She poked at the meat – which must be the bacon Karilya had mentioned and then tried a small piece. “Oh! it’s good!”
Lyrrekka, whose plate had some sort of grilled red fruit as well as the eggs and bacon, smiled at her and nodded. “It’s not something you guys eat, even though it’s edible for you. I like it because it’s kind of nostalgic. It reminds me of home.” She dipped a slice of brown stuff into her egg yolk and ate it.
“C-can I ask a question?” Coromel said suddenly.
“Of course,” Lyrrekka said.
“Um, well, do you have to eat normal food as well as the other stuff, or do you do it because you like it?”
“That’s not a question with a simple answer, but the quick answer is that we need it, but not as much as non-dragons do. We won’t die without it but it’s uncomfortable and normal food has desirable health benefits.” Lyrrekka smiled wryly. “And we like it as well, of course.”
Salia eyed the dragon thoughtfully. She’d never failed to answer a question directly. Maybe…
“Lyrrekka, is anyone ever going to tell me why he kidnapped me?” she asked.
Lyrrekka gave a thoughtful frown and put her fork down. “I can tell you some of it, I guess. In the end this is all about Earth.”
“Earth?” Salia said. “You mean Gaia?”
“That’s right. Gerian-mirian has little use for Talonyka except as staging ground for his invasion and a food source. As a heart friend, you have a bond to a human and this gives you the ability to open a gate to them. He intends to find your human and train them too, so he can launch you against Earth.” Lyrrekka frowned and worried at her lip. “It’s really for the best: once we have Earth, we can leave your people alone.” She sounded like she was trying to convince herself of that as much as them.
“I doubt the humans will be too happy, though,” Coromel said.
“No,” Lyrrekka sighed deeply. “But at least Gerian-mirian respects humans more than he does your people-” She broke off as another imp from Valeria flew though the wall and hovered in front of Salia. “I’d be grateful if you didn’t tell your mother what I just said, though I won’t stop you if you want to.”
Salia made a non-commital grunt and help out her hand to the Imp to see what her mother was saying. After a moment she grinned at Coromel. “Mummy says that your mothers are glad you’re alive.” She looked at Lyrrekka. “And they want to know if she’ll be allowed to exchange Imps with them.
“Of course,” Lyrrekka said. “Now why don’t you finish your breakfast and show Coromel around? You can both send Imps after dinner this evening.”
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Did we know that already, that Gerian has designs on Gaia? I don’t think we did. That’s certainly worrisome. I wouldn’t put it past him to be in league with the Lavarnes, either (sp?).
I’m glad that Coromel is feeling better, and there will be more of a chance to communicate with the home front. Though it doesn’t seem right to me. Prisoners passing messages unfettered, even at a restricted rate, is a significant security breach. I know they want to be hospitable and all, but wouldn’t it be wiser to have the girls share their messages with Lyrrekka, and have HER create the imps after she’s filtered out any classified information? Maybe Lyrrekka doesn’t WANT Gerian’s plan to succeed, so she successfully bulldozed him into letting the girls pass unrestricted messages? This whole thing is confusing.
The only thing that would make sense is if Gerian and the dragons had some NON-nefarious purpose in mind so they didn’t care about information leaks, and the only reason they had to kidnap the Heart Friends is because they knew that if they merely asked nicely they couldn’t expect any cooperation or trust. But given actions, reactions, worries, and running tempers on both sides of this conflict I seriously doubt that.
Hmmm… more nummy feedback. 😀
It’s never been out and out stated that Gerian is interested in Earth. But it has been imlied that all the first dragons have some interest in it. The two most obvious points are:
1. http://firebird-fiction.com/dragon-wars/dragon-wars-land-of-myth-chapter-nine-part-seven where it’s mentioned that the other first dragons will stop Gerian if he tries to go to Earth personally.
2. http://firebird-fiction.com/dragon-wars/dragon-wars-land-of-myth-chapter-twelve-part-six where an ancient attack on Earth is mentioned
The messages aren’t entirely unrestricted. Lyrrekka does monitor what Salia says and could stop her if she wanted. (And she’ll do the same with Coromel). As she says “I’d be grateful if you didn’t tell your mother what I just said, though I won’t stop you if you want to.” There’s a number of reasons for this. Gerian is unconcerned with what Speakers know about his plans and isn’t really thinking about the fact there are humans there as well. Lyrrekka is well aware of the fact that what Valeria learns the humans around her learn but she’s ambivalent about his plans (and I’ve tweaked the part to try make her ambivalence more obvious). She’s unconsciously trying to abdicate her responsibility to make a decision about whether to warn Earth by passing it on to poor Salia.
And, of course, Lyrrekka is a dragon so she can’t send them herself. No non-renegade speaker would accept an imp from a dragon.
Hope this comment helps,
Thanks again for reading and taking time to give feedback!
Becka
Why WOULDN’T a regular Speaker accept an imp from a dragon? Can they distribute commands or viruses through them, or is there some other danger? Or is it just the Principle of the thing?
And how can Lyrrekka monitor something like that? All through the story so far, Imp creation has been non-vocal. Just pack up the info and memories that you want to send and squeeze it out of your palm like a magical piping bag. So there’s no real way for her to know what Salia says or doesn’t say. …is there?
Interesting question. Simple answer 🙂 Lyr has a strong mind affinity. She’s responded to things Salia hasn’t said outloud.
I’ll explain more when I’m not responding via my phone on the way to work.
“The only thing that would make sense is if Gerian and the dragons had some NON-nefarious purpose in mind so they didn’t care about information leaks”
Alternatively, Gerian may just be so fantastically arrogant that he assumes them completely incapable of foiling whatever his plans are. 😉