Private Tales Don't Shy From the Light

[Aster Sayre]

"An expedition?" The incredulity used was a loud and solid no without being said. Aster's mother quirked a brow at her daughter from across the long table set for a formal morning meal to break their fasts.

In turn, Aster lifted her chin and met her mother's gaze unwaveringly. "For only two days and a night. There is a migration of saltsea dragons that would pass, and visiting the Scaled Cliffs is the best spot to watch them all." It was going to be an effort to let her mother realise that Aster was simply telling her mother and not seeking permission. "I will be back before dinner tomorrow." She added with finality.

Her mother drew breath to speak, but Aster's father, the Duke, chuckled. "Let her go. She has a dragon now. Cerys will not let harm come to our daughter."

A truth that could not be spoken with more surety. Aster regarded her father with aumsement. "I will not be going alone either." A lie to keep the truth some conpany.

Preparations were being made, and for the next couple of hours, Aster finally found her way to the dragon's den in the Palace grounds. Although Cerys was not housed here, deemed too wild and spirited to make peaceful rest here, Aster had to transport all her gear kept here to take with her. The saddle, the bags, even the leather riding gear she decided she would change into once she met with her dragon.

"Just... one moment, my lady." An attendant gave her a half smile. Aster crossed her arms, trying to look complacent but all she wanted to do was to leave the city already. "There's... we are trying to locate a draft dragon to help you get across the city."

She frowned. "Is there not a carriage I can take?"

"Afraid not, my lady..."

She sighed, and made it known sje was beginning to grow unhappy. A carriage meant she could take some rest without being seen by the people. Although not royal by blood, being cousins allowed her to live at the Palace. She was known to the people of Thanasis, for she often travelled with the Princess of Thanasis.

 

[Torec]

Old One-Eye had seen better days. Probably days when he had two eyes instead of just the one. Now the enormous cockatrice hobbled along on two feet, resembling the oddest cross between a gamecock and a dragon. Atop the enormous saddle and saddlebags sat a dark haired and bearded man, grizzled, whose skin spoke of hard days under the sun and weather.

Torec, Dragon Tamer, slid spryly down the One-Eye's side as the beast of burden came to a halt near the dragon's den in the Palace grounds. He grunted as his boots hit the ground and he stretched his back, patting the cockatrice's feathered leg.

"Gettin' too old for this, I think."

The cockatrice let out a crow of agreement. Torec grunted, squinting under the light of the sun until he spotted the little grouping and pile of gear. Leading One-Eye by the reins, he approached a woman with hair of palest silver. Spelled royal if he knew it. Funny, how he'd been taming dragons for the royals for the better part of his life and still had yet to meet but one or two of them. Tamers came and went. In fact, the life expectancy was pretty short. A miracle he'd been around this long.

Torec nodded in greeting. Not sure the protocol for a royal who was more of a cousin than a princess. Bow maybe? He didn't.

"Lady Aster? Torec, house dragon tamer. Got your draft 'trice here. I can start loading up your gear, if you're ready to go."

Aster Sayre

 

[Aster Sayre]

Her head turned, enough that she could catch the one talking with a side glance. Her lips parted, as if to say something, but her expression spoke for her. "Cockatrice? I am not being carted like goods, Tamer."
And a cockatrice was not going to keep up with where she planned to go. It would be slower, when she needed to move quickly. Aster took a moment, and sighed. "Apologies. No, a cockatrice would not do. My dragon has made a habit of feasting on every cockatrice that has moved my gear around. I have lost perfect pairs of boots and three cockatrices."
"Again, we are sorry for the wait, my lady. The Princes have..."
She held up a hand. "Oh, believe me, that tells me plenty. I know which of my cousins you speak of."
"We have a carriage, if you would like us to begi—"

"Yes, please. The moment the draft dragons become available..."

"We will have you on your way shortly." Smiled the attendant.

Aster turned to Torec. "Perhaps you could be of assistance then. Dragon tamer, correct? If I am traveling north along the coast, do you know where the wild goats are being herded? My dragon... likes to stay in the wilds. I would like to see to it that she is getting enough food out there." Although it would be no different than it would be if she resided in the city. "Or do you suggest hunting in the sea?"

 

[Torec]

Torec scowled. What did the lady have against cockatrices?

He patted One-Eye's beak reassuringly when she mentioned that her dragon ate cockatrices for breakfast.

Don't worry, old fellow.

What she said, if true, said more about her lack of control and trust with the dragon than anything else. That made his frown deepen. He looked at the ground for a moment, his mop of dark hair falling forward to curtain his face. Royals did hate it when he scowled. Took it personal.

She spoke to him again, asking about the wild goat paths.

Bloody royals.

Saddle care. Claw care. Tooth care. Scale care. He knew all these. But goats?

"Not a goat herder," he scratched at the beard thistles covering his jaw, "Sea is safer if you stick closer to the coast." Safer for people and cockatrices, apparently. "We travel inland, then it can't be helped... there should be goats near this time of year."

Aster Sayre

 

[Aster Sayre]

Aster frowned mildly, staring at the man that claimed not to be a goat herder. Well, the audacity on that one...

"We travel in land? Are you offering to come along? Offer up your cockatrice to my dragon?" Her amusement was not out of humour. There was something there that resembled power, an awakening from the moment her dragon had bonded to her.

Dragon traits showing up in the bonded human was not uncommon, but Aster was glad to not have inherited dragon's ire, much like her cousin, Kaveh.

Cerys had given Aster an impish side, one she could not hold back. But she was impressed, and she would loathe to inform the not goat herder, that he had the sense to talk back at her. She was not a Princess, but a lady of her family's dukedom.

"Or would you like to watch saltsea dragons migrate from the Scaled Cliffs up north? That is where I am headed." She could claim someone did accompany her, but she knew the sort of person going along would only stricken her poor mother. Aster liked to see her squirm, as that was her own right and power. "I will even let you ride in the carriage if you are a good boy."

 

[Torec]

This time Torec didn't bother hiding his scowl, fingers on One-Eye's reins tightening reflexively.

A good boy? Feed his cockatrice to her dragon would she?

The tamer wondered at the state of her dragon. Didn't their last tamer die not too long ago? Ate in some accident. Usually how it went, being a tamer. Ate or roasted or kicked so hard you were just a red smear.

"Couldn't soil your carriage with my boots, ladyship," He grunted, "Better suited in the saddle, horse or lesser drake, but I'll ride along with you. Can check on your dragon 'swell. Diet o' just cockatrices ain't exactly ideal."

The tamer squinted up into the skies. "Wouldn't mind seeing the migration anyhow."

Aster Sayre

 

[Aster Sayre]

Aster sized him up with her eyes before a light scoff of air left her lips.

"Very well..." She turned away and strode towards where her gear was left waiting for the carriage, which she could hear the sounds of one traveling this way. "Do you know why my dragon is not permitted in Thanasis?" She asked.

Several other dragon pit attendants looked their way, some looked sick at the idea of Aster's dragon coming close to the city.

When she turned to face him again, a small satchel in hand where she pulled out a large dragon scale. "It is because she is far too large, one of the oldest dragons here. The mountains up north is her domain." The Watcher, claimed many folk tales. Cerys had a longer name, one forgotten through history, but the dragon wished to go by a shorter name. The dragon had bonded to many riders throughout centuries, and Aster being the newest bonded had it's challenges.

The distance from her dragon, for one, made her irritable. Aster needed to constantly travel out to see her, to connect.

"This is her smallest scale by her tail." The scale itself was many times larger than the dragons of today. "I will not stop you from seeing to her needs, but I must warn you she is quite old and impatient. Much like a cat in terms of getting her to do things you want."