Tiamat's Kittens: Into The Dark

[aithne]

I held the canvas bag over the railing
The dead released, with the ship still sailing,
Out of our hands and into the swallowing sea
I felt the crossfire stitching up soldiers
Into a blanket of dead, and as the night grows colder
In a window back home, a Blue Star is traded for Gold.

Where to begin? Let's start with the end
This black and white photo don't capture the skin
When metal is churned. And bodies are burned
Victory earned
The War was in color

Now I lay in my grave at age 21
Long before you were born
Before I bore a son
What good did it do?
Well hopefully for you
A world without war
A life full of color

Where to begin? Let's start with the end
This black and white photo never captured my skin
Once it was torn from an enemy thorn
Straight through the core
The war was in color
--Carbon Leaf, The War Was In Color

Sondirra:

Life got a lot better after we got Jordan back. I had to admit that I was surprised that Palil had participated in the lifespan transfer, but as the days went past, I started to figure out that she really had changed, in those weeks before Three Rivers. It was really weird to be able to relax around her, to laugh without wondering if she was going to take a joke the wrong way and go off on me or someone else around. She healed, I healed, Gannon healed, and Jordan spent a lot of time looking stunned to be alive.

He was...less than happy when he found out the reason he was alive was because of the lifespan transfer, but after I told him that it was the only way he was alive, he seemed to make some sort of peace with it.

He happened to be around one day when Haven came by to check Palil out and make sure her wing was healing all right. Palil changed to her large form, which she'd barely been wearing since she'd woken after the battle. Jordan sucked his breath through his teeth when he saw her. Her wounds were all closed now, and her hide was regrowing, but there were large scars across her chest and belly, still an angry red. She lowered her left wing--still smaller than the other, and looking somewhat incomplete--so Haven could look at it. Her skin looked too big for her. She'd lost almost a quarter of her weight, and even in her small form she was painfully thin. Her body was drawing on all of its resources to keep up with the pace of healing that Haven's magic was demanding.

What happened? he asked me, and I realized I'd never told him what had happened after the Staffs had destroyed each other.

We were on Tiamat's back when she exploded, I told him. Gannon caught us, Haven was working on Palil even before she hit the ground. I looked at my bondmate, who had her head cocked to watch Haven as he ran his hands along the outer edge of her wing. Haven had to work on her for almost a day straight before she would quit trying to die on him. Her wing was shredded, pretty much. Took her three days to wake up.

He looked at me. And you?

You saw my new scars. I had a pretty badly broken leg, and Haven doesn't know if my shoulder's ever going to be quite the same. I shrugged. Palil got the worst of it, but I would have died without some intervention, as well. Gannon was well clear, thankfully, except for being hit by bone shards.

I saw those scars, he said.

I nodded. Haven, well...he had to make a choice, between saving Palil and I and saving Aldaric and Paloma. He chose us.

Jordan winced. Damn. Not a choice that I ever wanted him to have to make.

Why did he save us instead of her? You know him better than we do.

He was still watching Haven. Haven has this tendency to freeze in battle. He panics. I've gotten him to the point where even if his rational mind is frozen, he'll follow orders. His standing orders were to save you and Palil, no matter what.

Oh. My heart hurt for Haven, who was worn thin from all of the work he'd been doing. Then, raising my eyes, I saw Neda in the archway of the courtyard, opposite us. In her small form, she was a heavily built half-elven woman, with blonde hair cut short and pretty green eyes.

She was looking at Haven with an expression in those eyes that bordered on anger. Not anger at him. Anger for him.

And then a look at Palil, and the look on her face was quite clear. Resentment. Palil and I lived, and Paloma and Aldaric did not.

Haven was running himself into the ground out of guilt and grief, and Neda was helpless to do anything about it. I glanced at Jordan, and the look on his face said that he had seen the same thing I had. "They need to get away from this. Soon."

There was nothing he could really say to that, except for nodding.

Life moved on as we licked our wounds and tried to heal. Coulter pretty much took over the militaries of all four territories temporarily, while representatives from all four territories met. It was quite the council--over fifty humanoids and dragons from the far reaches of the continent.

And there were the funerals.

We couldn't bury all of the dead, instead burning them and sending their ashes to their homes. I met Oberan's family at his funeral, which led to some awkward questions about who, exactly, I had been to him. His ashes and Adelphia's were interred next to the graves of his wife and her bondmate. I hoped they'd managed to find each other in the afterlife.

Juri and Kathryn's ashes were mingled and scattered in the mountains above #2, and you never did see such a gathering--half of the military of our territory arrived to pay respects to the teachers who had touched all of us.

We retrieved Alistair and Bill's bodies and brought them back to their families. Bill's uncle was not in good health, having taken far too many blows while trying to keep his clan together. That gold dragon clan was fractured at its core, but they were exploring the possibility of reconciliation, especially since as time went on, it was becoming more and more obvious that Reuben had engineered the split in that clan for his own purposes.

Then there were the funerals of those in our command--Tchar, Galen, Aldaric, Paloma, Sutton, Olin, and Jude. I think Palil hadn't quite gotten around to really realizing they were gone, but I could see it hit home to her when she tried to speak about Olin. She ended up choking and not being able to finish her piece. She fled into Gannon's arms, and sobbed quietly through the rest of the service.

And there was Chaim's funeral.

There were so many people who had known him. His body was interred in a private ceremony in the mountains near his home, attended only by the few Karop clerics left in the world. The service was held on the plains of Three Rivers, and it lasted a day and a night through, everyone who wanted to speak their piece given a chance to do so.

I learned about his bondmate from dragons who had been his friend when she was still alive. I learned that he had been foster father not only to Kamal, but so many others. I learned that he did have a few children still alive--and that his bondmate had descendents who he'd kept in touch with.

It was a rough month, and it seemed to take forever to pass. At the end of the month, Palil took to the sky again with her new wing, after Haven approved her to fly again. After that, Coulter called each of us to him in turn.

He was sitting behind a desk that had apparently been liberated from someone's office, in a hall in Petrozav that had been hastily repaired, near the palace. He looked up as Palil and I entered. "Ah, yes, you two. I'm sure you've heard from the rest the offer that's being made to each of you."

Palil nodded. "Honorable discharge, or a place in the new military."

Coulter eyed both of us. "We need people of your talents badly. I have a feeling that you're going to tell me to go take a flying leap, though."

I laughed. "We've discussed it. Both of us are done with the military."

Palil's voice was quiet. "Too much has happened. The Order of Karop needs me more than the military does."

She glanced at me, and I nodded. "There's another life calling both of us."

"I thought so," Coulter said. "These are yours, then. See Eaton for the settlement of your salary and your bonus." He pushed a sheaf of papers and a pair of small wooden boxes across the desk. Frowning, Palil picked them up, handing me one of the boxes.

"Bonus?" I asked.

He chuckled. "Reuben was a very rich elf. We're distributing his personal fortune to the survivors of Three Rivers."

Palil had opened one of the boxes, and I saw her lips pale as she pressed them together. "These--"

"Are the promotion you would have been given had you stayed in. Congratulations."

Palil tipped the box so I could see.

Commander's bars and stars.

Coulter's voice was measured. "Your squadmates have been promoted to Colonels, and everyone else has been promoted accordingly. Including those who were promoted posthumously. Those are your service records and discharge papers, as well. I'm sure I haven't seen the last of you two, but for the moment, you're dismissed."

Both of us straightened, and for the last time in our lives, we saluted him. Then we went, carrying the official ending of this phase of our lives with us.

The bonus was very generous. Jordan and Gannon had received their own portion, and their new bars and discharge papers. We were free.



Palil:

It was time for some long-delayed visits. We went to see Sondirra's parents, so she could introduce them to Jordan, tell them she was marrying him, and that she was moving to the estate near Khatanga.

They took it with more grace than she'd expected. Even her grandmother was mostly polite, except for some dark looks at us. Her sister, Sinte, was absolutely overjoyed, and quite happy to see both me and Sondirra. She kept babbling about how pretty my small form was. She also conceived a massive and imperfectly hidden crush on Gannon, which I did my best to ignore.

We stayed a week, and on the last night drinks were passed around. It was just the four of us, and Sondirra's parents and sister. Her mother was visibly pregnant, and she drank her wine very watered. The rest of us were enjoying the rich vintage that was being poured that night. Wine was the drink of choice rather than vodka, here.

"Khatanga," Sondirra's mother said. "What's it like?"

"Warmer than here, that's for sure," Sondirra said. "The city itself is really nice. Lots of cultural stuff, lots of bards and actors and stuff." She grinned. "You have to come and visit."

Her father raised his glass. "Well, little one, we were doing some thinking. It would be a shame for us to miss our grandchildren growing up. And I think your mother and I are both tired of living in Ghen."

"And with Grandmother?" my bondmate asked, archly.

Her mother laughed. "I love my mother, but I love her in much smaller doses than I've been getting her in lately."

Sinte was sitting up, her eyes flaring bright. "Can we move? Can we? Please?"

Her father laughed, and reached over to ruffle Sinte's hair. "Maybe. We'll see how this harvest goes. We don't have a lot of coin put by at the moment, and I'm not sure what we'll be doing when we get to Khatanga."

I could feel Sondirra thinking, hard. "You know," she said, in that tone of voice that means she's just figured out the answer to a problem. "We were given a bonus, when we retired. I've got nothing much to use mine on at the moment, and it's more than enough to get you set up and keep you for some years."

"We couldn't, Sondirra," her father said, shaking his head.

She fixed him with a sharp look. "Call it a gift. Call it me wanting you all to be closer than four days' flight away. Call it whatever you want, but like I said, I'm not using the money for anything."

I was thinking aloud. "Gannon and I could easily carry your possessions. We could take you down with us when we leave for the south, let you find a place and get settled, then come up and bring down the rest of your things."

I thought Sinte was going to explode with joy. She had her hands over her mouth, and she was looking at her parents with pleading in her eyes. Her mother finally broke the silence. "I'd like to be down and settled in before the babies come. Moving house with a pair of infants is not a pleasant prospect."

And it was decided. We needed to visit my parents, and told them we'd swing by and pick up Sondirra's family on our way south. We'd seen my parents just after the battle, but I'd been far too injured for it to have been much of a social visit. They were glad to see that I was mostly recovered, though the scars on my belly and sides were still livid.

It was pleasant enough, though both of my parents looked troubled when I explained to them who Gannon was to me. My mother and I went hunting a few days later. She was perhaps twice my size now, in her large form. We flew in silence for a time, though I could tell she was thinking hard about something.

I'd come out with her because I'd wanted to give her a chance to talk to me away from the rest. I wasn't disappointed. "This thing you have with Gannon. Do you think it's going to last?"

I dipped my wings, bobbed slightly in the air. "I don't know. Maybe. I love him, Mother. I love him more than I thought it was possible to love someone. In ways, he's more important to me than Sondirra is."

She considered this. "Then I'm happy for you, Palil. But--what are you going to do about children?"

"I haven't figured it out yet." I chuckled. "I know you want grandchildren."

She eyed me. "The poison rendered all of the older females here infertile permanently, you know."

I felt as if the breath had been knocked out of me. I thought about this for a bit, wings holding me effortlessly in the sky. I would never have any siblings. And I had the responsibility for carrying on our line. "There are possibilities. We've talked about me finding a male willing to help, and willing to let Gannon and I raise the children. There are other things that we could do. We have access to a few people who are very strong mages and clerics. I'm trying not to worry about it at the moment."

"You'll live down near Khatanga, though?"

"I'm planning to. There's a lot of empty territory there at the moment." I winged a bit higher, remembering why there was so much empty territory. "There may be others who settle nearby, but we'll see."

"We'll come visit." It was not a request, coming from my mother, merely a simple statement of fact.

"It's beautiful there," I told her. "Tecla would love it."

She stretched her wings. "It's been a while since we've done any traveling. Perhaps sometime in the next year. Ah, there are the hunting grounds."

There were other discussions of it, but mostly my parents seemed to accept that I'd figure something out. I promised myself to figure something out sooner rather than later.

Family visits done, we stopped and picked up Sondirra's mother and father and sister, and headed south.


12/21/987
Sondirra:

I leaned on the lintel. "It's a little crooked," I said.

Jordan turned around. "I was just trying to decide if it's crooked enough to fix."

"It's going to drive your mother batty," I told him.

He rolled his eyes. "She can fix it, then." I came up to him, slid under his arm, looking at the sword that he'd just hung on the wall.

"You decided not to give it back to Palil," I said, quietly.

He shook his head. "She's changed in the last few months. I think the sword can just stay on the wall. Maybe one of our children will want it. I don't think I ever want to touch it again."

"At least the effect of it's mostly worn off," I said.

He chuckled. "I have to say that it's nice to not have to worry about crushing everything I touch." He tightened his arm around me. "Especially not you."

I laughed and slung my arm around his neck, kissing him soundly. "Not going to wear Eldil for the wedding, then?"

"My father wants me to, but I'm being stubborn," he said, grinning. I laughed again; Jordan's parents had been making plans for the wedding for a month already, and it wasn't even scheduled until six months from now. We'd decided to hold it on the estate, two years to the day after we'd graduated into the military. We'd had to delay a bit from our original schedule, because Jordan's mother insisted a proper wedding couldn't be planned with less than six months' notice.

I'd told her that if we delayed that long, there was a good chance that I was going to be pregnant, but she insisted it wasn't any trouble if I was. I'd thrown up my hands and let her have her way. It wasn't like I cared, really. I just wanted to be married to Jordan, I didn't care how I got there. Palil kept muttering that I was such a boy sometimes. She was more interested in wedding preparations than I was, most days.

I reached out and touched my bondmate's mind, gently. She was absorbed in something she was studying, and from the feel of the air around her, she was probably up in Chaim's cave. Chaim had left quite a few writings behind, and for the last few months she had been up at his cave for at least part of every day, trying to sort through the writings and decide where to start.

She spent most of her nights with Gannon, in the cabin in the woods he'd brought her to when she came to the estate after Garnet and Alvar died. Gannon needed a place away from his noisy family, who he loved dearly but couldn't take for too long, and Palil seemed to get more attached to Gannon with every passing day. The two of them had surprised me. I'd thought that their relationship would fall apart without the pressures of the military and the war on them, but they were beating the odds.

We were settling into this new life, trying to achieve some sort of balance. Thirteen years in the military led to some problems; there were times when I just didn't know what to do with myself. And all four of us were woken by nightmares on a regular basis. The sound of several dragons overhead brought with it an instinctive flinch and glance at the sky. It would get better, Jordan's father assured me. We just needed to give it time.

There was always work to do, and that helped. I was helping Jordan build the house we would live in until his parents died. Seems that was a tradition in this family, and it was one that had a rhythm in it to heal the soul. We'd lost so many people at Three Rivers--that was what the battle with Tiamat had come to be called, even those parts that had happened away from the river convergence--and there was so much grief that it seemed to numb the soul.

I had the people closest to my heart, all alive, mostly whole. But part of me ached for the three pairs among my squadmates who had perished, for classmates who would never be what they were, for Haven who seemed to be heading into a destructive spiral that we couldn't figure out how to arrest. He was living in Khatanga, and Neda occasionally called on Jordan to come and try to rescue him from some sort of situation he'd gotten himself into.

Between bouts of trouble, he was still the man he had been. He was my mother's midwife when my baby sister and brother were born. But he was living emergency to emergency, fearing silence.

We all heard things, in the silence. I had a feeling his voices were louder than mine, and more insistent.

"Long face," Jordan said, interrupting my thoughts. "You all right?"

"Just thinking about Haven," I said.

"Ah." He kissed me, and I relaxed against him. "Poor guy."

"I wish there was something we could do."

"Time," he said. "He'll get better."

We wandered from the drawing room where the sword Eldil was now hung, a little crookedly, on the wall. It would be fifteen years before it was taken down from the wall again.


6/30/979
Palil:

"Paquita! You came!" I hurtled at my friend, bowling her small form over.

She was laughing as she hugged me. "How could I stay away? And careful with the dress, I just had it made! You look amazing, my dear. Really."

I blushed a bit. I was wearing a dress made of cloth dyed in greens and blues that reminded me of the ocean. "Thanks. So do you! I'm so glad you were able to come. Where's Cowan?"

She rolled her eyes. "Flirting with the mother of the groom, last I saw."

"Oh, dear. Well, come on. I was just heading back in. I wanted to get the last few flowers."

"There are so many people here. I hadn't realized Jordan and Sondirra had so many friends."

I chuckled. "Not just their friends, but the entirety of Jordan's family and most of Sondirra's. My parents are here, even. Did you see Harbin and Eaton?"

"Harbin looks so different out of uniform, I hardly recognized him!" Paquita laughed, and slung an arm around my shoulders. "So how are you, my dear? Getting lost in the shuffle?"

"It's not my day, it's Sondirra's and Jordan's. Getting lost in the shuffle's par for the course." I smiled, and shifted the flowers in my arms. "I'm good, though."

"Things with Gannon going all right?"

I blushed, biting my lip. "A lot better than all right, really. We're starting to talk about maybe getting married ourselves, one of these days."

"Told you he was cute," she said, smirking. I punched her on the shoulder and we walked towards the throng, laughing all the way.

All of our surviving classmates had shown up. The few who'd stayed in the military had gotten leave to come down, the others had been arriving over the last two weeks, showing up underfoot and trying to help with preparation. Funny, the things command prepares you for. I had been spending a lot of time directing a phalanx of hands eager to help but with no idea what to do.

As we reached the crowd, a small figure detached itself from the group and came towards us. "Palil!"

"Bambi, it's good to see you!" I gave her a one-armed hug. "How are things going?"

"Been running all over the damn continent, putting out one fire after another." She wrinkled her nose. "It's still fun, though. Once it stops being fun, I think we're going to travel some."

"Lida still following Beamer around?" I asked.

Bambi rolled her dark eyes. "As always. She and Elfrida are around somewhere, I saw Elfrida earlier."

"They've been here for a couple days. Did you see Lamont and Corona?"

"Hanging all over each other? Like that's a surprise. Blaise and Addison eloped!"

"I think her family wasn't really happy about it, from what she said." I grinned. "Ooh, did you hear about Xora and Ena?"

Her mouth fell open. "You're kidding me. I didn't know the two of them swung that way."

"Neither did I, but here they show up arm in arm! I think Xora, Addison, Tarrant, Blaise, Ena, and Arete have all settled down near each other. They kind of all take care of Arete."

"Poor thing," Bambi said, shaking her head. Arete's face was terribly scarred, and something in her mind had been broken during Three Rivers. She was childlike, usually wearing an innocently bewildered expression, and she didn't talk much. "Haven looks like hell."

I sighed. "You're telling me. I think he's started drinking."

There was a ripple in the crowd, and we turned to see what the murmur was about. There was a large landing field that the dragons had been using. The landing dragon was a huge black dragon, with wings that seemed to blot out the sun. It was Orion!

He had two riders with him. One was Neva, of course. Behind her--

My mouth dropped open.

Albina!

I shut my mouth and walked over to greet them. I bowed deeply. "Greetings, all three of you. Sondirra says hello, she's getting dressed."

Orion chuckled. "So she tells me. Well, she says she's being held hostage by three crazed women with sewing needles and begs us to come rescue her. I told her that there are some indignities we all must endure."

I snorted. "There's a changing area over there, and refreshments over there. I can tell you where the hunting grounds are, if you'd like, but I think we're about to get started."

"We ate on the way. If you'll excuse me..."

I nodded, and turned to Neva and Albina. "You're both very welcome," I told them. I talked to Neva on occasion, through the staves; she was the one who kept me informed of world events. Albina I'd heard very little of in the last year. I'd known she'd survived, but where she had gone was a mystery.

Albina smiled. "Neva would like you to know that I am officially your problem now," she said. Neva looked askance at the young human, who was still smiling. "I'm done making trouble for the moment, and there are those who'd use me as a weapon. So I come here, to disappear into obscurity." She looked around. "Lovely place. You should talk to Kane and Kavan about having children with Gannon. They've got some ideas that would make it so you didn't have to go outside of your relationship with Gannon to find someone to father them." She blinked. "Who is that?"

I followed her gaze. "That's Haven. That's his bondmate next to him. Why?"

"He needs me," she said shortly, and started walking towards him. I watched, somewhat helplessly, as she took his arm and steered him away from the crowd, talking to him in a low and urgent voice.

"She is always like that," Neva grumbled.

I laughed. "I know." There was a questioning pressure at the back of my mind. "Sounds like I'm wanted."

Half an hour later, it was time.

Jordan and I were standing under the arch that defined the entrance to the meadow that the ceremony was going to be held in. I heard music from ahead of us--Beamer on a set of pipes, Lida on her gittern. The murmur of the crowd was settling to a hush.

Jordan was fidgeting next to me. I gave him a gentle poke in the side. "We're about on," I muttered.

"I am going to forget my lines. I swear, I've forgotten my lines--" He was shifting in the formal suit he was wearing, cut along the lines of a formal military uniform, but without any hint of martial decoration. His hair was tied back neatly, and there was a nervous smile on his lips.

I rolled my eyes. "You haven't. And Gannon's memorized them too, he can prompt you. It'll be fine." I took his elbow. "There's our cue."

I walked Jordan to the altar, and Gannon walked Sondirra down. She was wearing a richly beaded dress in sunset colors, a cascade of flowers spilling over her shoulders, and she looked utterly radiant. Jordan relaxed when he saw her, and I could tell he had completely forgotten to be nervous.

They spoke their vows in front of Nimri, their gods, and the rest of us. And when they finished speaking, there was a silence, and then a great roaring cheer from the gathered throng.

And then the party started.

We ate, drank, danced, gossiped, and more or less caroused until the sun came up the next morning. Jordan's sister Cara and her bondmate Domen were introduced around, and I saw many a raised eyebrow at the two of them.

A bit before midnight, Jordan and Sondirra slipped off together the house they had built together over the last year. It was their first night in the new household, and from the things that got through both of their shielding to us, it was a very good night indeed for the two of them. After the party moved inside the main house, I ended up reclining on a couch, lying partially atop Gannon. I was a little bit drunk, as was he, and both of us were humming with happiness.

We were in a quiet corner, and Kavan came to sit down next to us. "Quite the party," he said. He looked exhausted. I always forgot how painfully shy Kavan was.

"Where's Kane?" I asked.

"Flirting with someone. A pair of someones. Copper dragon, very pretty? And her bondmate."

"Tatiana and Shira. Good luck to him. Shira's a little protective of Tatiana."

Kavan chuckled. "That's why he's flirting with them both, I think. I had something I wanted to tell you two, actually. I've been doing a little research, a side project of my own. With both of you in mind, to be honest." He chewed on his lip meditatively. "The whole dragon egg-changing thing got me thinking about the possibilities of dragon crossbreeds. They do happen, but it's pretty rare, and not from polar opposites on the element spectrum like you guys are. I figured out something that can be done, though."

I sat up a bit, and so did Gannon. "What?"

"There's a certain application of those polymorph spells, something strictly localized and with a time limit. Take down the needed radius, limit the time it needs to work for, and you suddenly have a lot of power to work with. Enough, for instance, to let you conceive red dragonets, Palil, or to let you, Gannon, father white dragonets. I can get it into potion form, but the application may be a bit awkward. I'm working on it. I thought I'd ask the two of you if this was something you were interested in before I recruited Kane to kelp me go from theory to practice."

I looked at Gannon, and he raised an eyebrow at me. Well? he asked silently.

Of course! I told him. You in?

He chuckled. In all meanings of the word.

I snorted and elbowed him, then nodded to Kane. "We're interested."

"That's sort of creepy, how you two talk silently like that," he told me. "I'll work on it with Kane, then. When's your next season supposed to start?"

"Next year," I told him. "I've been through this year's season already."

He nodded, looking abstracted. "I have to figure out a way to move the seasons around, too," he muttered. "Eggs won't hatch if they're laid at the wrong time of year." He scratched his chin, then jumped to his feet. "I have to--make notes--" he said frantically. "Bye!"

"Is he always like that?" Gannon asked me after Kavan departed.

"That was more words than I've ever heard him say, actually." I turned a bit and snuggled down into Gannon. "You know, if that thing works...that's my last worry, taken care of."

He breathed out, carefully. "You'd want to have children with me?"

I answered him with a kiss, and a silent, resounding, Yes!

Years later, looking back on it, we both agreed that our own marriage began that night, as well as Jordan and Sondirra's. We had a small ceremony with our families and a few friends in attendance about two years later. A year after that, our first clutch of eggs hatched. Two of the eggs were white dragonets, and two were reds.

To her--and our--immense surprise, one of the dragonets, a red named Ianit, hatched and made a beeline for Sinte, Sondirra's sister. The two of them ended up going to school for a few years at the facility that had been known as #4. It turned out that Sinte had a talent for music, and we talked Lida into taking her as a student for a few years. She spent a few centuries traveling extensively, living here and there, sending letters back with stories of her travels.

Sondirra's first child was born about six months after she and Jordan got married, and they had three in quick succession--a boy and two girls, in this case. The middle and youngest child bonded, when they were old enough, with a pair of Gannon and I's children. The oldest bonded with one of Gannon's sisters. They were careful to keep the humanoid children and the dragonets apart until the humanoid children were old enough to realize they were humans, not dragons.

Jordan's sister Cara was an instructive example of what happened when an infant bonded with a dragonet. She was never quite right, that girl. She had the eyesight and scent capabilities of a dragon, and she was a ranger almost unequaled among her generation, but she was never comfortable in the company of humanoids. Until her dying day, she was more dragon than human. She did end up having a son, eventually, but she never did tell anyone who had fathered him.

About a century after they were married, Sondirra and Jordan had another pair of children, and settled into the pattern they would keep for the rest of their lives. They would have a few children, raise them, and then a century later they'd have a few more. They had nineteen children, in all. "It takes about a hundred years for the memory of giving birth to fade enough to think about having a few more," she always told me.

Life went on. Albina and Haven, after meeting at Sondirra and Jordan's wedding, ended up being together for a few years, until Albina died in her early thirties. Something about her talent made her prone to growths in her brain, Haven said, and she had gone blind about three years before she died from the growth that eventually killed her. Albina kept him together long enough to heal from the guilt and grief over losing Paloma like he had, and Neda eventually forgave us for being the ones who lived.

Bambi and Beamer spent most of their time traveling. When they did settle down, it was in one of the great swamps. Beamer and Lida had an on-again, off-again relationship for the rest of their lives. Bambi had a number of children, and though she never really spoke about it, I assumed she'd gotten Orion to father at least one or two clutches.

Kamal declared Bambi (his sister, strange as that was) his heir, and when the time came for him to pass along the reins of power, she handed the power to her oldest daughter.

There were small wars on occasion, but for the most part things were peaceful in the centuries after Three Rivers. The dragons settled into a role of advisors to the humanoid population, which grew tremendously in those centuries. The losses among the dragons hadn't been evenly distributed among the various breeds. The white dragons were far more numerous than the rest, numbering almost five hundred including those who had been brought out of the portals. The silver and gold clans had been decimated, as had the greens and the blues. The clan of bronzes, never numerous, had been nearly wiped out.

All together, there were perhaps three thousand dragons in the world, now, a number far too small to retain our dominance on the landscape. The true wisdom of the gods' plan for us was finally revealed, as our ability to bond with humanoids protected us from being hunted once the humanoid population got large enough to be truly dominant.

Military service became completely voluntary, and the centralized system of schools for bonded pairs was changed into a system where when a pair bonded, they could train for a few years with a local teacher, and then go to one of the larger schools for more specialized training later. I ended up teaching quite a few younglings, both from the estate and from Khatanga. The knowledge that dragons and humanoids could bond at any age became more widely known, thankfully, which made things much easier in some ways.

Coulter lived for another five centuries, long enough to see his legacy be a lasting peace on the continent. I was the leader of the Order of Karop for a couple of centuries, rebuilding the Order, before handing the position over so I could indulge more deeply in my studies. I sequestered the portals away, and the former main Temple of Karop remains buried under the snow, forgotten by all but a few. It's better that way, honestly.

The pirates mostly united under the leadership of the Sagittarius clan, and though they did stage an uprising a couple of times, they learned a swift and bloody lesson as Coulter himself led the forces that put down that uprising. Occasionally, Coulter would ask us for favors, and we would do a job or two for him freelance.

We were not really hailed as heroes. Our names appear in none of the official histories, and few enough of the unofficial ones. History will swallow our names, except in the stories of the red dragon clan of the eastern peninsula, and we will be mostly forgotten. Just another batch of veterans of Three Rivers, who settled down into a quiet life after all was said and done, who farmed and sang and taught children, who loved each other.

Sondirra did eventually ask Jordan's mother why her reception had been so warm, the first time she had visited. Iris chuckled. "Well, we were very happy that Jordan had finally found a girlfriend. There was something else, though. The clan got a message, millennia ago. It described the situation with the Eight, and said that nine hundred and seventy-eight years after they rose, they would fall, and the firstborn son of the human family associated with the clan at that time would be chosen to be Bahomet's avatar. The message also said that if he had a drow woman as a lover at the time, he would survive the experience. If not, he wouldn't."

Sondirra blinked and asked if Jordan had known. Iris said, "No, he didn't. He still doesn't know. It was that message that prompted Eldil to make herself into a sword when she died. She said that whoever the avatar was, he was going to need some help. Anyway, when he brought you home, we assumed that you were the drow from the message. So, yes, we were quite happy to see you."

When asked, Orion confessed that he had sent that message. Sondirra felt a little odd about having been foretold, but she was happy with her life, and she decided it didn't really matter, in the end.

The violence of our first years shaped the people we became in the eight centuries that followed, but we tried not to let it define us. I entertain the children with stories of what life in the military was like, and follow my calling in the worship of Karop. Gannon became a great artist, starting with his simple charcoals and eventually painting massive, detailed murals on the insides of buildings. He and I can work beside each other for days without ever saying a word, and we are quite content. Eventually, his smiles became more frequent, and sometimes he even laughs, now.

Jordan hardly touches a sword, except for teaching sword-fighting. He is a farmer like his father, a good steward of the land. Eventually, he and I became close friends. It took us near fifty years, but we got there.

And Sondirra, well. Sondirra had found exactly the place she wanted to be, and the people she wanted to be with. Her heart had found its home, and she never wandered. She did keep up with her climbing, and she occasionally disappears into the woods for a few days at a time. Her physical recklessness stays with her, as does that heartbreakingly lovely smile that she gets when she's looking at Jordan. She is the one who keeps us all laughing.

She is mine, and I am hers. As she is Jordan's, and Jordan is hers. As Gannon is Jordan's, and Jordan is his. As I am Gannon's, and he is mine.

We are all well-pleased with our choices. Time moves on, and we are beginning to grow old, shockingly swiftly after centuries of youth. Soon, our time will be upon us.

It is sad to leave this life, but I am assured by Garnet that the next is just as interesting. I dream of her more and more now, my friend dead for centuries. Some spark of her yet remains in me, and I can hear her calling. I can hear Chaim, too, and the others.

Bide a bit, my friends. We will be there, soon.



Sondirra:

It was a rainy spring morning, the kind that always made my knees ache. I was squinting at a letter, one of Sinte's missives. The letters kept blurring, and I rubbed my eyes. I was going to have to get some of those eyeglasses that seemed to be all the rage these days.

I heard Jordan come in. "Sinte sends her love," I told him.

He came over to me, bent down to kiss the top of my head, slid an arm around my shoulders. "Where is she this week?"

"Krasnodan, hanging out with the furry white dragons, I think. I can't quite make out her handwriting, I think she was trying to write letters dragonback."

"Typical," he said, chuckling. "I was wondering--"

But whatever he was wondering would go forever unanswered. We both started as we heard Gannon's voice in our minds. Come quickly, both of you!

I got up so quickly that my chair overturned, and Jordan and I near-ran to where we felt Gannon and Palil--the meadow behind the main house. Palil was lying flat on the ground in her large form, Gannon crouched next to her, using a wing to shield her head from the rain. "We were coming down to see you, and she stumbled and fell when she landed. I can't get her to get up."

She was holding onto consciousness, just barely. I went to her, reaching out to touch her great head. She was struggling to breathe, and her eyes were open, fearful. "Oh, Palil," I said, and my voice broke with tears. "Palil, I'm here. We're all here. We're all with you."

"Never thought--I'd be first." Her voice was only barely audible. I love you. I love you all.

I was sobbing, holding on to her muzzle with both hands. "Don't--don't be afraid, love. It's all right. We'll see you soon."

Her breath whistled out of her, and her eyes closed.

I felt her go, felt the bond between us break, heard Gannon's heartbroken scream that was cut off in mid-shriek--

He collapsed to the ground with a cracking thump, and now Jordan and I held each other, both of us crying. With Palil and Gannon gone, the bond between the two of us was broken as well. But we had each other to cling to in the rain, as we slid down into the dragon-churned mud.

We curled together with our dragons, and I heard the whistle of Jordan's breath as he, too, began to struggle for air. I could feel the tightness in my own chest. "Sssh," I whispered, holding onto Jordan so tightly.

"Love--you--"

"I love you," I whispered as his body arched in my arms and then relaxed all at once. I kissed him, and then settled him closer to me, a limp weight in my arms.

I could hear voices approaching, panic in them. It didn't matter. I knew what I was waiting for.

I could hear other voices now, voices long-forgotten, friends from childhood. There was a pair of warm hands on my shoulders, and the world was going dark around me.

All I had to do was wait a few more moments.



From the records of the Aithinarr Clan

...and so the four of them passed from the world. They were buried in the mountains, in a location that was only revealed to their immediate families. Their memorial service was attended by many, family and old friends, all of whom had stories about them to tell. It was they who made the Aithinarr Clan into an alliance of red and white dragons, who established the settlement of white dragons above the valley the reds live in, a position that means we will survive much that we would not have otherwise.

Their names will be passed down, as long as the Clan survives. Though the world may forget them, we never will.

Here ends Tiamat's Kittens, a story of dragons, and those who love them.

Comments

[violacat.livejournal.com]

I cried. Well done.

I do have a question: was the fact that the four of them died simultaneously due to grief or the life share or some of each or is it meant to remain ambiguous?

Also, a few months ago, I mentioned this story to my mother, just because I thought it was so cool what you were doing with the dragon thing, and she was interested in reading it. Would you be comfortable with that? If not, I understand; I don't even know if she remembers talking about it, what with it being about two days before the wedding and all.

[violacat.livejournal.com]

P.S. I just read the end again, and I'm crying again. You're very good at creating characters who matter.

[silenceleigh.livejournal.com]

Awww, thank you! I love these guys, they're so much fun to write.

[silenceleigh.livejournal.com]

Partially the life-sharing thing--they all would have died within a couple of years of each other anyway--but also partially because after eight hundred years of the influence of those staves, the four of them were bonded so tightly that when one of them died, the other three followed.

And thank you, it's good to know I've done my job well. And of course, you can let your mom read them. :)