Private Tales Shelter Beneath the Wing

[Kaveh]

Thanasis - Royal Palace

"WHO IN THE FUCK DOES HE THINK HE IS!" His voice boomed, resounding over the sounds of a snoring dragon. Running over scales and clattering against walls and fountains.

"I am sure he did not mean it, My Lord. Your Bro-"​

The Servant girl's whispers barely slipped through the expansive suite. Finding purchase only where those who truly listened could hear them. The sound of boots clattering against smooth marble enough to drown it out. "Silence!"

His voice seemed to sunder the very air. Muting what should have been an echoing smack as the slave girl was sent tumbling to the floor. A sneer played over the Prince's face. His eyes staring down at the girl as she began to crawl away from him, a whimper echoing from her throat. "Do you think I'm that stupid? Do you think I don't know what you are?"

Kaveh knew he was being foolish.

Knew that he was letting his rage control him. Knew that had the other half of his soul been near he would not have been so rash.

Yet he could not help it. His brother had pushed him too far. He had been humiliated, he had been forced into this. How else should he respond? Should he play nice and just ignore the insult of it all? No. That was not an option, not here, not now. Today had been a setback, a stumble, he could not allow it to be more. Not if they were to survive.

"Get OUT!" His voice boomed as his hand swept forward, grasping the scruff of the maids neck and throwing her forward down the marbled hall. "And tell my brother to send a prettier whore next time."

Kaveh spat, whirling around and revealing that they had known the woman's purpose.

He stalked forward, anger roiling through him as he grasped the handles of the doors to his apartments. The thundering clatter of their closing echoed out, nearly drowning out as he shouted to the figure standing upon his balcony. "You were right!"

The Prince called. "She was his spy."

 

[Briseis]

Briseis loved this balcony. The only thing higher was the curved spine of mountains that protected Thanasis' back, but from here, everything in view was below her, and she could look down on all of the great houses including the Sahar estate that she'd grown up in. She remembered how this balcony had looked from so far below, as a child from the outer city slums. She'd looked up at it often, she had watched the great families take to the skies on dragon back, and all-too-young she had accepted that she would never know such a life.

Born to a menial family that she couldn't remember, she shouldn't have known such a life. She was lucky enough to have been chosen from the masses of orphaned workers to work for any of the houses within the inner city, let alone one of the wealthiest. She was always clean and fed, and her bed was soft enough, but it shouldn't have been any more significant than that. She had never expected the Mikel Sahar's Dragon to change its allegiance and for her life to alter so drastically.

The scandal was still a palpable thing, all these months later. A 'slave girl' who 'stole' the dragon of one of the wealthiest Thanasian Lords. Dragons didn't just break bonds with one and choose another. At least, she hadn't thought so either, but Briseis hadn't a choice in the matter, and yet she'd been branded a thief of something more valuable to the great houses than any amount of gold, and they would not stop their fight to retrieve what was theirs. She had been dragged into a dungeon and through courts, most had wanted her torn apart for such an insult and few had wanted to hear anything she had to say. Some said she had somehow bewitched the ancient beast, when all she'd done was care for him.

Everyone knew that Dragons were the true power of Thanasis. It was they who empowered the people and brought wealth to the kingdom, and no Gods could save any Thanasian should they decide to destroy it all. The Dragons were Gods here. They were worshipped and beloved, and to be bonded to one was the greatest honour any human could know. The courts were still debating days later how to proceed with the precedent, and they likely were still, so had it not been for Kaveh she'd likely still be in some dingy cell..

Briseis had heard many stories about the Prince of Thanasis. All of which, it seemed, were true. That a dragon had chosen her over Mikel Sahar had either intrigued or impressed him, and so he had lent her his voice in her trials, and his voice was rarely if ever contested. She was safe here, free of her confines and Ciraxis, the great white dragon was hers..

She watched the sun glint against his scales in flashes of white gold as he and a few others circled and swooped in the skies over the city and seas, her bare kicking gently against the breeze before Kaveh's temper caused her to flinch from her thoughts and grip the edge of the stone balcony she perched on. She turned, hearing the wrath he inflicted upon the girl and feeling a knot of guilt in her chest. The girl had likely had no choice at all in the matter, she knew that better than most, but she had witnessed the girl with Kaveh's brother and so had felt it right to inform him. His rage was terrifying, but he'd protected her and they'd grown to become friends these past months.

The girl swivelled to set her feet back on the tiled floor to wander into the archway, her arms folded as she leaned against it, her brow furrowed softly as she looked over him. Kaveh's rage always seemed to radiate from him like a physical thing, like tendrils seeking to wrap themselves around the throats of any who got in his way. Briseis had a far softer way about her, and so she tried as best as she could to be gentle without sounding patronising and risking angering him further. It was wise to be careful, particularly when Rayvath wasn't near..

"You show strength to show her mercy.. It wasn't her choice." she said with a sigh. The girl might have a bruise or two but it was light punishment considering.

"Your brother's games are tiring. I'm not sure what he seeks to accomplish, but whatever it is, it's beneath you, Kaveh." her head tilted.

 

[Kaveh]

Kaveh stalked through the suite, to the side of the small bathing pool which was centered within the great room. The servant girls steps could still be heard as she quickly shuffled out of the room, the fear in her almost palpable upon the air.

"I should have strangled her." Kaveh declared coldly, his voice barely biting back another shout. Yet the calm and praise of her tone kept the anger at bay, and instead of lashing out he only shook his head.

Slowly The Prince stalked across the room. From a large table he snatched a decanter of wine along with a small chalice. Ruby red splashed into the carefully crafted gold seconds later. "My brother wants what he's always wanted."

The Prince remarked. "Fathers love and throne."

Though Kaveh was the youngest of his three brothers, Thanasian succession law did not necessarily mean the throne would go to the eldest. Succession was a far more complex gambit, and although he himself was hardly favored the possibility was most certainly still there.

"The girl was sent to spy." Such tactics were common enough at Court, though Kaveh often forgot how foreign a concept that must have seemed for Briseis. "Either on me, or you."

The Prince mused as he turned towards his rescued little doe. "The game might be beneath me, he is beneath me, but If I do not respond they will think me weak."

Perhaps I'll finally have to kill him. Kaveh thought to himself, an idea that brought a wicked sort of smile to his face.

 

[Briseis]

She let her arms fall to her side and let out another quiet sigh as she pushed herself from the wall and wandered to the table. "Yes I had considered that I might have been the target. I'm certain your brothers would both put my head on a plate to keep favour with the Sahars.." she offered a weak smile.

Alone, Briseis was only safe here. Outside, she was only safe by Kaveh's side or upon Ciraxis' back. She had been rescued from death or imprisonment, but she wasn't free to roam the inner city on her own, nor was she sure she ever would be. To some, she was chosen, but to many she was branded the dragon thief.

Briseis watched him carefully as he spoke of responses with a particularly concerning smile at whatever was on his mind. "Yes, you're right.. Though whatever your decision is, please consider it with a calm mind.." she asked.

"If it's me he wants, there's little need to spy. I hold no secrets." she shrugged.

 

[Kaveh]

Calm mind. Such words were practically an anathema to him, and the very mention of them were like rippling waves over a calm pool of water. Fingers tightened ever so slightly around his goblet, teeth sinking into his tongue for just a brief moment. "A fact, which both of my brothers undoubtedly do not believe."

He remarked, somehow keeping his tone free of simmering rage.

"Half the palace still think you some kind of Sorceress" Which was a rumor he had done absolutely nothing to dispel. The more people who thought Briseis could bewitch them, the less would try to kill her.

Kaveh brought the cup to his lip, downing the wine in one great gulp before slamming the chalice back onto the table. "The other half think you know all of my secrets."

He said with a shake of his head. That rumor had started almost immediately, given credence by the fact that Briseis' hardly ever left his suite. Which of course was only the case because she couldn't leave.

 

[Briseis]

She let out a quiet huff and dropped her gaze, the half-hearted amusement she wore only skin deep. "I never thought I'd miss the days when no-one thought anything of me at all.." she commented as she reached to pluck a large grape from it's ornate bowl.

Her eyes rose to his face as he spoke of his own secrets, biting into the grape as she considered what she did know of him. She had known him for months, and some days she felt she knew all there was to know, when others she felt that she hardly knew him at all..

"They could press hot pokers to my skin and I wouldn't divulge what you had for breakfast, let alone any secrets you had to hide." she muttered somewhat bitterly. He'd been the only one to speak up for her and the only reason she wasn't back in those cells. A few days had been more than enough darkness..

 

[Kaveh]

"I have no doubt that's true." Kaveh said with his first true small smile of the day.

He meant it as well.

Though taking her in had initially been a move of politic, Briseis had quickly become the closest thing Kaveh had to a friend. Besides Rayvath anyway. Not many people could stand being in his presence for long, and fewer still survived the wrath which often bubbled out from him.

Briseis had though, for better or for worse. "I think..."

He frowned for a few seconds, considering, the calm in his voice still slowly simmering with the anger that always lay beneath the calm tides. He slowly turned towards her, looking up and down a the former serf before he continued.

"Maybe you should tell them something." Kaveh proposed, a wicked grin spreading over his face.

 

[Briseis]

She mirrored the smile, at least until he turned to her the way he did. The impish smile he wore was, troubling, and she had absolutely no desire to be involved in his feuds with his siblings..

"I'm not sure I like the sound of that.." her brow furrowed, swallowing the mouthful of fruit.

"If you're suggesting that I spy for you.. I have a bad enough reputation as it is.."

 

[Kaveh]

Kaveh's smile did not disappear, neither did the cold amusement which now bubbled to the surface of his rage. "No, no. I'll leave that to Shirian's little birds."

The First among his wives always did weave the most delightful of plots. He would not dare to create his own nets without first consulting her. No. He did not need Briseis to spy, at least not really. They needed no such complications.

"My brothers, no, the whole Palace thinks you something, Bri." Kaveh said. "Why fight against it?"

He asked. "Why push against the tide? Try to convince those who will not be convinced?"

It was, by his estimation, an impossibility.

Kaveh had tried for years to convince his siblings, his family, and everyone around him that he was no what they thought. That he could be more than the Dragon's Rage. That he could, would become something far greater than all of them.

"They say you are a witch, a thief." He shrugged. "Why not show them what you can do?"

 

[Briseis]

She could only stare back at him with growing confusion.. "I.. Can't really do anything, Kaveh." she said with a hint of bitterness in the laughter under her breath.

"I'm not a witch, nor a thief. I was taught to keep my head down, to be polite and curtsy, and to clean and carry trays. I can barely ride the dragon I'm accused of stealing." her head shook. "You're right that I should stop fighting to convince them, but I don't wish to play up to their gossip and rumours. I just want them to let me be."

But they wouldn't let her be, and she had much to learn. Standing up to people when she'd been taught to bow her head to them her entire life was one thing, but learning to become what dragon riders trained their entire lives for was another thing entirely. She was a fish out of water, and she was cowering away in the Prince's quarters. Shame rose into her cheeks and she frowned at the floor for a moment longer before lifting her gaze.

"I don't know why he chose me but I want to be worthy of him. I want to learn."

 

[Kaveh]

Kaveh had lived with the weight of rumor and lies all his life.

He had been born a Prince, but the title had never meant much, not for him. He was the third son, and since he could walk had been a constantly rampage. He had destroyed, broken, and torn apart much, even he would admit that.

Yet the anger which roiled within him had never lead to a death. He had never beaten a mistress, had never struck a servant, had never killed anyone within his rage. Kaveh had broken things, smashed statues, torn ancient tapestries, but never once had he harmed a person.

The rumors still spread though.

Whispers of dead lovers. Servants who had suffered his wrath.

To many he was a monster. A man who could not, would not control the beast which lay within him and gladly lashed out at those around him. No matter how much he fought, no matter how much he tried to break their word, it had never been enough. "I know."

Kaveh said softly to Briseis' the rage within him muted by empathetic sorrow.

Slowly the Prince moved towards her, reaching out and placing a gentle hand on Briseis' shoulder.

"You will learn." He told her. "But the first step in learning, is making sure no one thinks you have to."

Otherwise they would come for her far too quickly.

 

[Briseis]

She let out a quiet sigh as his hand settled on her shoulder. He was the last person anyone would expect to instil calm, but for her he did, and she offered him a small, tired smile. a breathy laugh tumbled from her lips..

"Alright, oh wise one. Then teach me." she smiled. "I can barely hold my chin up, it's going to take a lot for me to convince anyone of anything.."

Her gaze shifted toward the balcony at the sound of Ciraxis jovial song on the wind. She knew he wanted her to join him, but fear of falling to her death or crashing them both into the ground was most definitely a factor in her reluctance..

"I didn't realise I was such a coward.." she smirked unconvincingly..

 

[Kaveh]

"Cowardice comes only when one refuses to face their problems." It was a lesson that he gladly repeated, for he had needed to learn it early.

There was a thin line between anger and fear, one that he had tread for most of his life.

Although Rayvath was the largest Dragon in all of Thanasis, or close to it, it had not always been so. Before she had grown, before she could see to his safety against even the greatest foes, the two of them had been vulnerable. His outbursts had always been there, but they had come more easily.

Fear had gripped him. A constant terror of what his own actions might offer in rebuke. He had barely slept, always waiting for a knife in the dark. He had never left the palace, fearful of what noble might take him in the nearest alley. He had done nothing, paralyzed and scared by what might be.

It had taken him time and effort to overcome the terror in his heart. His hand caught the small of her back, guiding her slowly towards the balcony."It begins with him, you must have confidence he will be there."

As they walked he looked up at Ciraxis.

"You were a servant. I know you were not taught to fight, or kill, or anything of the sort." He told her softly. "You are vulnerable here, I will not lie to you, and in time I will make sure you learn to protect yourself."

When they reached the edge of the balcony Rayvath peered down from her perch, glancing at the two humans with interest. "But for now, you must trust Ciraxis. Even despite your fear, you must know he will not let you fall. That he will guard and defend you with his life."

Kaveh said plainly, reaching up and grabbing the back of Briseis neck. "So let's start there."

Then, without another word, the Prince shoved her over the side of the balcony.

 

[Briseis]

Briseis let him guide her, and she listened to him, nodding as she watched the white dragon play on the wind. She visibly winced at the thought of killing, and decided that protecting herself would be a start, but she had no desire to learn such violence as many riders learned. There had been peace here for so long now, and she could only pray that battles and wars were not on her horizon, otherwise, she would be expected to fight like every other rider of age.

She pushed that thought from her mind, and she had been about to answer him when she felt his grip on her neck, and her body went rigid with fear. Words lodged in her throat, and all she could do was gasp before she went over the edge, and gravity pulled the ground toward her, and she struggled to claim any of the air that rushed by for her own lungs. This was how she died, and fuck if her life hadn't been boring. She thought only of Ciraxis, and his name circled in her mind over and over as she tumbled through the air, the plaza below growing nearer.

Briseis had only managed to scream for a second or two before her descent was put to a sudden halt, mere meters from the ground. Talons curled around her, stealing her from the air and causing a string of panicked screams, sobs and profanities to pour free.

"Land!... LAND!!" Her eyes closed tightly, but she felt Ciraxis carry her up, and up, and how his wings tilted at her command. Her hands curled around one massive claw that she held onto for dear life. The dragon brought her back to the balcony with a screech as he alighted gently, setting the shaking girl on the floor before curling himself around her in a protective barrier.

Her stomach emptied itself amidst her sobs, and she curled herself in against Ciraxis' belly. "You almost killed me!!" she called from her little circle of safety.

 

[Kaveh]

Kaveh felt Rayvath's jaw snap shut behind him, a low growl escaping the great Dragon's throat as she admonished her bondmate. Like a herding dog nipping at the heels of it's charge. "She'll be fine."

He insisted with a roll of his eyes, never turning back/

Instead The Prince only shifted forward, grasping the railings of the balcony in front of him as he watched Briseis' form grow smaller and smaller. Then, seconds later Ciraxis suddenly went swooping past. A gust of wind swept over the open platform, and behind him he heard Rayvath snort.

"See." Kaveh said with a waving gesture, finally turning to face the massive Red Dragon behind him. "He'll catch her. It's an important less-"

Before he could finish, Rayvath's huge maw opened and snapped shut on the front of his robes. She grasped him, lifting him from his feet. "Rayvath! She needs to learn. Put me down!"

Kaveh hissed, smacking his hand against the Dragon's scale as anger and indignation rose within his chest. His mouth opening to continue his barrage when Rayvath did just as she was told and dropped Kaveh. His legs half kicking as he went tumbling onto the ground with a solid thud.

Which was where he was when Ciraxis and Bri came crashing down onto the balcony.

A string of muted curses echoed past Kaveh's lips, hand rubbing at his likely bruised thigh as he pulled himself up and off the ground.

"No, I did not." The Prince insisted as he stood. "Your bond is unlike anything you've ever experienced before. Like no friendship, no relationship, nothing. He is not a pet or a loved one. He is a part of you."

Kaveh shot Rayvath an accusing look. "He would never let you come to harm."

It had been a lesson he had and many other riders never had to learn. Not in the same way. He'd had the luxury of having bonded Rayvath nearly at birth. Briseis had no such luck, and every lesson that came naturally to him would have to be fought for by her. "I knew he would catch you, just as I know Rayvath would catch me if I jumped over the railing right now."

Another snort echoed from the Red Dragon's nostrils.

 

[Briseis]

Anger had been something Bri had felt much of in her life, but it had been just another emotion that she had to push deep down and forget about, because she wasn't born to be a human being with emotions. Now, after her pathetic life had flashed so suddenly before her eyes, her body shook with all of the fear and anger she had ever pushed down. It boiled to the surface and spilled over as she pushed herself to her feet despite Ciraxis coiling even tighter around her, serving as a wall of scaled muscle between her and Kaveh.

Her side stung, and she winced but paid the wound no heed as she attempted to climb. "That is NOT the way to TEACH me, KAVEH! You utter UTTER bastard!" she screamed, and as someone who had only ever spoken so quietly, it felt alien to her. The rage felt like another being entirely.

"LET ME OUT CIRI!" she shoved at the solid lump of tail that pulled her back into the little circle of safety rather than let her at the Prince. And what, if she did get to him? She had enough anger in her now to do something entirely foolish but she didn't care, not a single iota. He'd risked her life for the opportunity of some lesson.

 

[Kaveh]

Rage sparked through his chest like a flash of lightning.

Anger wracking through him in an instant, indignation at the tone Briseis chose to use with him. Reason burned away in an instant, and a flash of rage flickered over his features. He took a step forward, fingers curling into fists as he opened his mouth to speak.

Then, a gently nudged pressed at the center of his back.

Rayvath's massive form loomed behind him, a slow rumble in her throat as she took in a deep sweeping breath.

Kaveh seemed to stop, his own chest falling as though the great Dragon had stolen the breath from his lungs. The wind swept away from him and his fingers suddenly unfurling as he closed his eyes. "I don't know any other way!"

He bellowed over Briseis' cries.

"We don't have time." The Prince shouted. "You have to learn in months, maybe weeks what others have had years to learn."

Kaveh's frustration blistered as he continued. "You can't hesitate, stall, because every minute wasted is another minute someone might find you with a knife in the dark!"

There were no illusions for Kaveh. He knew how much the nobility despised Briseis, what 'she had done'. They would gladly see her dead, and if she did not learn fast enough it was almost guaranteed to happen. He could not always protect her, not even here in the Palace.

 

[Briseis]

She gave up trying to climb the resistant wall of dragon scale with a growl and slid to the floor to hold her head in her hands and listen to Kaveh yelling his justifications. She listened without interruption, mainly because she was focusing on drawing and releasing one breath at a time until her breathing synced with the dragon against her back.

Her pulse gradually slowed, and as she slowly calmed, Ciraxis' coiled form unfurled and allowed her a view of the Prince as she lifted her head. She understood, but it didn't make her any less angry about what he'd done.

"Promise me you won't ever do that to me again." she asked. "I appreciate your lesson, and I have learned from it, but your methods call trust into question and I have no other place in this city where I can feel safe but here. Please don't make me afraid of you."

 

[Kaveh]

"Please don't make me afraid of you."
​

The words smashed into him like a hammer into a mirror. He felt himself buckle ever so slightly, a wave rushing through Kaveh that he did not quite understand. His features twisted, and behind him he could feel Rayvath slump ever so slightly.

For a second the room stayed quiet, save for the heavy breaths of two Dragons echoing rhythmically.

It seemed almost that he would not say anything at all. That he might launch into another tirade or tear apart the room in simple indignation. Seconds ticked by, hearts beating, chests rising and falling with quickened breath.

Then finally he spoke. "I'm sorry."

The apology floated from his lips like some foreign demon. Rarely found, often only whispered behind closed doors.

"I am neither a good teacher, for friend." Kaveh admitted softly. "Both things are foreign to me."

He continued. "But I will try to do better."

 

[Briseis]

She had said the wrong thing, and she felt the silence in the room wrap around her throat and cut off the flow of air as she waited for him to react. He wouldn't hurt her, in her heart she knew that at least, but casting her out would be a death sentence and her eyes pooled with tears at the thought. She'd been ready to apologise before.. He did.

Breath flooded back into her lungs and her brow furrowed slightly at the word he'd spoken so unexpectedly. "No.." her head shook and she pushed herself to her feet, leaving Ciraxis' side to stride to Kaveh and throw her arms around his neck in a tight embrace.

"This world has not been kind to me, and no human has ever protected me before you did." she frowned and stepped back a little, her hands still gripping his arms. "It's why I feel safe here, because you're the only one in this world that I can trust, other than Ciri.. And you are right, I need to learn quickly.. I know you did what you did to help me.. Just, no more surprises, please." she breathed.

 

[Kaveh]

Kaveh let out a slow breath as Briseis' wrapped around him.

For a few seconds he stood there, and then slowly he embraced her as well. It was a quiet, almost solemn moment as she explained herself. The Prince felt a pang of pain, not just for Briseis, but for others like her. Those still stuck and cloaked in the ways of their city.

Those who had often shown him the most kindness. Those who had spoken to him when his own family wouldn't. "No more surprises."

He agreed quietly.

"But I think we will find you another teacher as well." Kaveh said as he pulled back from Briseis. "Someone who can be trusted, and can do a better job than I."

The Prince frowned. "At least with some things."

Teaching her the ways of the Court would be more...difficult.

 

[Briseis]

The white dragon visibly eased, as though in tune with Briseis' own relief. She was calming, slowly but surely, though she wouldn't be sitting on the balcony again any time soon..

And then he spoke of teachers other than him and her fingers curled into her palms. "How will we know if they can be trusted or not?" she asked cautiously, conjuring the discomforting thought of some 'tragic accident' befalling her mid lesson..

 

[Kaveh]

"Shirian will teach you some things, as will Djana and Mahsa." Though many thought of his wives as ornaments or simply marks of his prestige, they were all far more than that. Djana had been a warrior in her own right, and Mahsa was a scholar

The Prince continued. "And there are those who taught me, and not just because of my father."

Kaveh assured her.

"I am despised in much of this city, as are you, but thankfully many in Thanasis still think with more than simple rumor." Something he supposed that he should have been glad for. Kaveh could think of a few names who would help, though he knew that speaking with them might also endanger their own lives.

Most would not care, thankfully. "We will be careful."

He assured Briseis. "As we always must be."

 

[Briseis]

Bri nodded as he rhymed off the names of some of his wives. They had surprised her, in truth, given what she had imagined a harem of the Prince's wives to be like, just as the Prince himself had surprised her in not being quite as terrible, at least with her, as she had been told. His wives were talented, and wise, and she had already owed them a lot.

"I trust you." she smiled with a sigh and hugged her arms to herself. Ciraxis stretched with a soft trill of a sound before slinking up to Rayvath, ever eager to garner the red dragon's attention. Briseis smirked, and flopped into a plush armchair with another small handful of grapes.

"I think if they knew you, they wouldn't judge you so harshly.." Bri shrugged as she crunched into the fruit. "But I also think, you enjoy the rumours.." she mused.

 

[Kaveh]

A slow breath dragged into his lungs, eyes slowly casting away and out towards the balcony. "I need the rumors."

The Prince said quietly.

"It was not always like this, Bri." Kaveh said softly, glancing over towards Rayvath who had curled into herself behind him. "I was not always so...controlled."

It felt almost wrong to use the word in this context. The anger that he felt constantly simmering was still there, the rage roiling within him a constant. To say he was controlled seemed like a lie, for any moment he could snap and lash out like a child.

They both knew that, and yet they knew he was more. "When I was young, before I understood. Before Rayvath helped me see what I had taken from her...the rumors might as well have been true."

He said softly, staring. "I nearly killed my own mother."

The words were quiet, full of shame.