Fate, Too Late

ANDRA

Andra could hardly believe the dragon’s words.

Her heart was beating in her ears.

She stared at Tiri, lost in her sorrowful purple eyes.

~I’m meant to be a Rider?~

Andra blinked. Her vision was obstructed by tears.

Ena’s voice continued in her head.

~“But…the moment of Pairing never took place. You and Tiri saw each other, but you were not able to touch at the all-important moment.~

~“You were not able to solidify the Bond.”~

Andra flashed back to memories of that day.

She had climbed across the rafters to be close to the purple baby dragon.

Andra had never known what had propelled her forward into danger, past the point of no return.

She had spent so much time cursing herself for foolishness, but after Ena’s words, she saw the event in a whole new light.

Andra had been destined to be a Rider.

All her life, Andra had internalized what she’d been told.

She was a slave. She was worth only the work she could accomplish.

She should keep her eyes to the ground and her ideas to herself.

Ena’s voice cut through her reflection.

~“You never truly Bonded…”~

Andra gazed into Tiri’s huge purple eyes. She felt a rush of emotions that mirrored her own.

Relief that they were finally together again.

Rage that they had been torn apart so long ago.

Loss…for something that never was.

“I’m Andra,” she said softly, introducing herself to the dragon who already knew her so well.

~“I know. I feel your heart, and I see myself in it.”~ The voice washed over Andra like warm water. She had never heard it before, but she felt that she had always known it.

It was Tiri’s voice.

~“You see yourself there because I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you,”~ Andra replied.

~“I’ve loved you too. You’re the sister I never knew,”~ Tiri replied.

Andra stepped closer. She dared to reach out her hand, and Tiri leaned into her touch. She stroked the dragon’s purple cheek.

The moment they touched, it was like a weight fell off of Andra’s shoulders. Finally, she could lay down her burden. She could release her guilt.

With Tiri, her life made sense.

Andra was right where she belonged. She was ~home~.

“Now that they’ve found each other,” Kael said, “they can learn one another’s hearts as they were meant to.”

~“I’m not so sure…,”~ Ena replied. ~“We all know the importance of the moment of Pairing. That moment can never return. And these two can never be truly together as they were meant to.”~

Andra bit her lip, fighting back the tears that immediately sprang to her eyes.

~This wasn’t enough? It’s the best thing I’ve ever known.~

~“I must discuss with my daughter what will come next,”~ Ena concluded.

~How is it possible to feel so happy and heartbroken at the same time?~

Andra felt defeated. She couldn’t bear the thought that greatness would come into her life only to be torn away before it was ever hers.

If Andra was ever meant to be a Rider, she had to remember that she was foremost a slave.

Her collar was tight around her neck, as it always was. No dragon could change that, especially not a dragon who she wasn’t truly Bonded to.

~“We will leave from the cave and return in one day’s time with a decision.”~

Ena’s words played in Andra’s head as the tears continued.

The thought of Tiri leaving so soon after they had found one another was heartbreaking to Andra.

She closed her eyes for a moment.

~Tiri was never yours,~ she told herself. ~Remember your place.~

Andra heard a low, compassionate growl. Ena moved to stand beside her daughter, and the two dragons looked at Andra with pity in their eyes.

~“Little one, your mind is like a bright star. Your light will be a beacon in the darkness, guiding all those who are lost.”~

Ena repeated the words Andra had heard before. Though she didn’t know what it meant anymore this time than the last, it still gave her some solace.

Then Tiri and Ena leapt into the air, traveling through the tunnel on gentle wings.

Eithne crouched and the Freemen climbed atop her back. Kael took Andra’s hand and helped her up.

She didn’t meet his eye.

Eithne followed the others to their campsite, and Ena and Tiri continued out into the air.

Andra stood on the ledge, watching the purple wings until they disappeared over the horizon.

KAEL

Kael was thankful for the excuse to get out of the cave. He and Alik had taken off to hunt, which came much more naturally to the warrior than attempting to comfort the girl.

~Andra.~

~Now I know her name.~

He knew a lot about her, actually. Not only had she served at the Hall of Riders, his old home, but she had also been bound for the same fate he had.

The leadership of the Hall had kept her from a true Bond. The Kingsmen had prevented her from fulfilling her destiny of becoming a Rider.

Kael closed his eyes, the wind rushing through his hair as Eithne soared back to the lair.

~“Don’t let anger get the best of you,”~ her soft voice said. ~“Maybe there is a way for them yet.”~

The dragon touched down in the mouth of the cave, dropping a deer carcass from her talons.

Kael disembarked and took the hunting sack from Alik.

He turned to see Colmen sitting beside Andra.

Kael watched the girl’s eyes go wide as Eithne devoured the deer in one bite.

“What’s for supper?” Colmen inquired.

“Fish,” Kael replied. “Help me clean them, will you?”

“Sure. Eithne wasn’t in the mood for seafood?” Colmen smiled at the dragon.

“She wanted something…more filling.”

Eithne swallowed and let out a small, fiery burp.

Kael pulled out his hunting knife and took a seat between Colmen and Alik before the crackling fire.

The three comrades were silent, each of them lost in their work.

Kael worked his knife slowly and steadily, wasting no energy as he cleaned fish after fish.

Alik used broad strokes, raising his blade into the air dramatically and throwing guts over the side of the cliff.

Colmen began to whistle as he held a fish up to the light, admiring how its scales shimmered with iridescence.

“I have a question.”

He had become so used to her silence that her voice still surprised him. Kael looked up at the girl to find she was staring right at him.

“Of course,” he said encouragingly.

“Why did you come to Castigo’s manor? And who are you…exactly?”

Kael shared a look with his comrades.

It felt strange to make such introductions after they had already been through so much together, but they had never told her everything, and the girl deserved to know.

“Well, we were ~going~ to capture Chief Judge Castigo’s son, Ledo, so we could use him to make Castigo step down from his throne,” Alik began. “A prophet told us that would work.”

“But when Ledo fought back, I had to kill him instead,” Kael went on. “And then you saw my face, so I took you with us.”

“Of course, Kael didn’t know at that point that you didn’t really talk,” Colmen added with a smile.

Andra was silent for a minute, thinking it over.

“You’re certain he’s dead?” she asked Kael.

Kael nodded as he thought of the Judge’s son with disdain. It was clear to him that Ledo was the one behind Andra’s scars, and her constant fear.

“And who we are, exactly, is the Freemen,” Kael went on. “We all joined the revolution when we realized just how corrupt the Kingsmen’s system is.”

Alik cut in. “Wait, wait. Let me make this more clear. The Judges and the people who support them are the Kingsmen. They want to put an emperor on the throne, to rule over the humans and the elves.”

Andra frowned. “But the Guardians of old created Judges so there would be no more emperors.”

“That’s true!” Colmen agreed. “But the Judges have fallen far from what the Guardians intended.”

“You know better than anyone how the Judges abuse their power. Children are born into labor contracts that they can never complete,” Alik went on, glancing at Andra’s neck.

“And true Riders are kept from Bonding with their mind mates,” Kael said softly.

The whole group fell silent, staring into the fire.

“But that’s why we’re Freemen,” Kael continued after a moment, “because we want to rid Paerolia of corruption.”

Now that he knew Andra could speak, he wanted to know what she was thinking more than ever.

But when Kael looked into her eyes, all he could see was the reflection of the fire.

ANDRA

After supper had been prepared and consumed, Andra sat on her cot while the Freemen talked.

Even though she’d found her voice, she wasn’t in the mood to chat.

She couldn’t stop wondering what the following day would hold. She knew it was dangerous to hold on to the unlikely possibility that she and Tiri could be together.

But it had been so long since Andra had had a dream to hold onto. So long that she could hardly bear to let it go.

~“Don’t be so nervous, young one.”~

Eithne’s soothing voice was like an instant balm to Andra.

~“Remember. There is something special about you.”~

Andra considered this.

~“But I’m a slave, and a girl,”~ she replied. ~“How could I be a Rider?”~

Eithne chuckled.

~“Dragons don’t care about silly hierarchies the way humans do.”~

Andra held on to this hopeful idea.

~“And one more thing,”~ the dragon went on. ~“Don’t take Kael’s temper personally. My mind mate is impatient, and he has no tolerance for injustice.”~

~When you think he’s angry with you, remember he’s only angry with what they’ve put you through.”~

Andra considered this too. After all that she’d learned about the Freemen that evening, the dragon’s words seemed to make sense.

Soon after, the Freemen turned into their cots for the night. Soft snores rose around Andra, but she was wide awake.

She rose from her bed, wrapping the blanket around her and walking toward the opening of the cave. She sat on the ledge, letting her feet dangle in the air.

The moon reflected off the ocean, and Andra began to sing the song her father had taught her so long ago:

~And so beneath the sycamore tree,~

~I’ll wait for you if you’ll come to me,~

~And to the mountains we will flee,~

~Where you and I can both be free.~

~For I have loved you and you have loved me.~

~Both knowing that it should not be.~

~We have found what they cannot see,~

~Under the branches of the sycamore tree.~

Andra was so lost in the beautiful words and the sorrowful melody that she didn’t notice Kael approaching.

He took a seat at her side, and she realized with a start that he was bare-chested, his smooth skin glowing in the moonlight.

“Don’t stop, please,” he whispered. “My mother used to sing this song to me.”

So Andra sang it through once more, relishing in the sound of her own voice flowing from her like rain after a drought.

Only when it was done did Andra open her eyes again.

“What a sad song,” Kael said softly.

“I always thought it was happy,” Andra replied. “It’s about true love.”

Andra was grateful for the darkness, because he wouldn’t be able to see her cheeks turn red.

“But they have to give up everything to be together.” The sadness in Kael’s voice surprised her.

“I always assumed that if you found true love,” Andra whispered, “then nothing else mattered.”

They were silent for a moment, Kael staring out at the moon.

Then he rose to his feet, muttering something, though Andra could only make out part of it.

“The one who knows your heart song.”

“What did you say?” she asked. He only shook his head and disappeared under Eithne’s wing to go to sleep.

~Heart Song.~

~Will I ever find mine?~

In Paerolia, the term was used to describe the connection between dragon and Rider.

But it was also used for the only thing that could compare to the Rider’s sacred and mysterious connection:

~True love.~

***

Finally, after a sleepless night watching the moon, the sun rose over the ocean.

Andra felt the encroaching fire in her mind and knew the time had come.

Tiri was near. And though her stomach was roiling with nerves, Andra felt a sense of peace. Soon, she would know for certain.

The others were asleep, but Andra rose to her feet and journeyed once more to the mouth of the cave.

She could make out the two giant figures soaring toward her.

Andra watched them come closer and closer. She felt the piece that had always been missing fall into place as Tiri came nearer.

Though she didn’t know what they would say, Andra knew one thing for certain:

No matter what Tiri had decided, she carried Andra’s heart with her.