The Unbearable Lightness of Dragons

“I know you do, and I promise I’ll move heaven and earth to make it happen, but it might take a bit of time, more time than we have right now. Baltic is going to Riga for a few days to start the reclamation work on Dauva, which means it’s the perfect moment to deal with the situation concerning Thala. I can’t guarantee he will lift the curse in the next day or so, but I know that if I have some time to work on it, eventually I can make him see reason.”

May looked skeptical, but after exchanging yet another pregnant glance with Aisling, she acquiesced. “I don’t like it, but I guess that’s the best we’re going to get. We’ll consider your word as your bond on it, though.”

“Thank you. And I will start working on Baltic right away. I’ll talk to him before he leaves for Latvia, and after he’s gone, I’ll summon the First Dragon.”

“I wish I could be there,” May said with a sigh. “But Gabriel would never allow it.”

“This might help with the weyr situation as well,” I pointed out. “If we get Thala out, she’s likely to talk about what happened during the time Baltic was in France when all those dragons were killed.”

“Then again, she might have been the one to kill them,” Aisling said.

“I don’t think it’s likely she’d do something against Baltic’s wishes, and he had no reason to want the deaths of those dragons. His involvement with Fiat was simply an arrangement dating back to Baltic’s resurrection.”

“There will have to be some terms, you know,” May said, sipping a glass of white wine. “Such as prohibitions against attack by Thala.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I think we can get her to agree to anything in order to get out of her prison,” I said, filled with confidence.

“You don’t know that for sure,” May said. “We are at war, after all.”

“Yes, but she takes orders from Baltic, and he doesn’t have any desire to attack anyone now that he and I are together. The war was declared against us, remember. Unless you guys can get them to call it off?”

“I wish it was that easy.” May shook her head. “Every time I talk to Gabriel about it, he tells me it’s weyr law, and no matter how he may feel personally, he is duty bound to uphold weyr law.”

“Drake more or less said the same thing. Honestly, if they weren’t sexy to the tips of their toes, I’d be completely fed up with dragon stubbornness,” Aisling said, moving her plate away from Jim’s covetous stare.

“What we need is to get everyone together in a nice quiet place—the wyverns, and Thala, and even Fiat. I just know if we could get them all together, we could clear Baltic’s name.”

“I don’t think Drake would go for that,” Aisling said, chewing thoughtfully on her lunch.

“Gabriel might, if the curse was lifted.” May’s expression showed there wasn’t much hope otherwise.

“Baltic is going to be a bit sticky,” I said hesitantly. “He’s bending over backward now to make me happy because . . . well, to be honest, because he’s so grateful we found each other again. But he’s still rather hard to persuade about some things, and the weyr is definitely one of them. But . . . hmm . . . if we add meeting the wyverns to the conditions for freeing Thala, in addition to lifting the curse, it might be possible to get him there.”

“Are you sure?” May asked somewhat skeptically. “That seems like a lot of concessions for him to make, and even since you showed up, he doesn’t strike me as the sort of man who makes concessions easily.”

“No, he isn’t, but really, does he have a choice?” I set down my fork and ticked off items on my fingers. “You won’t help free Thala unless he lifts the curse on the silver dragons. I won’t rally you both into helping with Thala unless he agrees to meet with the weyr. And Gabriel won’t agree to a weyr meeting to end all this ridiculousness unless the curse is lifted. Therefore, in order to free Thala, he’s going to have to agree to meet with the weyr and to lift the curse. It’s just that simple.”

Aisling laughed. “I doubt he’s going to see it that way.”

I had my doubts as well, but I kept them to myself.

“So how are we going to get Thala out, assuming all goes according to plan?” May asked. “There’s no way you’re going to convince the weyr to release her just because he lifts the silver curse. No one really cares about that but us.”

“I care,” Aisling pointed out. “Ysolde cares.”

“That’s because you’re two sane women, and not stubborn wyverns.” May gave a little grimace. “Drake would probably agree to her release because he and Gabriel are friends, but Bastian and Jian have no reason to want Thala loose, and I doubt if even Kostya would sanction letting her go.”

“We’re simply going to have to get her out ourselves,” Aisling said with a cheerful smile.

“Oh, man, not another one of your plans from Abaddon?” Jim grumbled, perusing the menu again. “We gettin’ dessert? I could go for some tiramisu right about now.”

“Hush, demonic annoyance. I’m not a professional Guardian for nothing, you know. I got Drake and Kostya out of that aerie prison, so there’ll be no trouble getting Thala out.”

May looked as doubtful as I felt.

“Yeah, you and your professional Guardian skills did . . . and Gabriel and Maata and Tipene and me, but we’re just little bits of squashed egg beneath your august toes, huh?”

Aisling shot it a narrow-eyed look.

I considered the matter for a moment, then said, “I’m simply going to have to use some magic. With my magic, and Aisling’s Guardian skills, and May’s . . . er . . .”

“She’s a master thief,” Aisling said with a smile at May. “She’s even better than Drake.”

“You can imagine how thrilled I am with that praise,” May answered with a grimace. “But Aisling’s right—I can get into places unseen, and given the agreement we have been discussing, I would be happy to do whatever I can to free Thala.”

“But your magic is kind of odd because of the interdict,” Aisling pointed out.

I sighed. “Yes, it is, which means I’m going to have to go see Dr. Kostich and insist that he lift the interdict. I haven’t really pushed him about it before, but I think it’s time to strip off the kid gloves and make him do it.”

“Oooh,” Jim said, its lips an O. “Can I watch when he melts you into a puddle of goo?”

“Ignore it,” Aisling said, throwing her napkin at the demon. “I have faith in you, Ysolde.”

Silence fell for a few minutes as we all considered what had to be done.

“There’s no sense in delaying,” Aisling said abruptly. “The sooner we get this done, the better for everyone. I’ll talk to Drake tonight about a big sárkány with Fiat and Thala, and you and Baltic.”

“And I’ll explain it all to Gabriel,” May agreed.

“I’ll tackle Baltic tonight as well.”

“Yeah, but are you going to talk to him, too?” Jim asked with a lascivious wink. “Or will you have time to talk with all that tackling going on?”

“Honest to Pete, I can’t take you anywhere. Stop being such a rude demon.” Aisling smiled at us both. “So, we’re agreed?”

“Agreed,” I said, nodding.

“Me, too,” May said.

“Excellent. Mmm, this roast pork is really outstanding. Would anyone like a bite?”

Jim lifted up its head hopefully. “Yeah, I—”

“Anyone human want a bite?” she corrected with a meaningful look at it.

May pursed her lips.

“Oh, sorry. I forgot you’re not . . . never mind. Ysolde, would you . . . no, you’re not, either. Er . . . moving on. I believe that’s taken care of all the business at hand, so if there are no other issues to deal with, I move we call this meeting officially over.”

I smiled and lifted my wine. “To the successful completion of whatever it is the First Dragon wants of me.”

“To no curse on the silver dragons,” May said, lifting her glass.

“To peace amongst the dragons,” Aisling said, clinking our glasses with hers.

“To sexy little Corgis with the fuzziest butts imaginable,” Jim added, slurping loudly out of its water bowl.