“F-fine, M-master Healer Marlies,” Leah replied.
From memory, the girl had been orphaned. Perhaps she needed someone to talk to. “I’m just making a cup of tea. Would you like one?” Marlies tipped water from a waterskin into two cups and passed Leah one.
“Thank you.” Leah clutched her cup, knuckles white.
Leah was either really nervous or freezing. Either way, tea would help. “Come with me.” Marlies walked to the ledge and opened the door to a chill wind. She mind-melded with Liesar. “Be gentle, she’s just young.”
“I’m nothing but gentle,” Liesar replied.
“Especially when you fight tharuks.” Marlies held out her cup.
Liesar sent hot gusts of air over Marlies’ cup until the water was steaming.
Leah’s eyes nearly fell out of her head. “Liesar warms your tea? Doesn’t her breath burn your hands?”
“She has great aim—and because we mind-meld, she’d know if she hurt me. She feels what I feel.”
“That’s handy. Does she help you heal people?”
“She helps heal other dragons.”
“And I sterilize your surgical knives, don’t forget to tell her that. And I fetch injured dragons’ riders.” Liesar ruffled her neck scales.
“I wish I was a healer.” Leah’s eyes shot wide open and she gasped. “Oh, sorry, I meant to ask you nicely. I mean I—”
Marlies laid her free hand on Leah’s arm. “You want to be a healer?”
“Yes. Ezaara and Adelina helped me so much when they healed me from limplock. I would’ve died without them. That’s why I want to help others.”
The Egg knew she could do with help. With hardly any healing supplies and no decent assistants except Ezaara, Adelina and Tomaaz—who all now had other responsibilities—she’d been run off her feet whenever there was a tharuk skirmish. Lars had assigned a couple of people, but they’d been more hindrance then help, so Marlies had suggested they work with the master craftsman. Marlies nodded. “Very well. Here’s your first lesson. You’ll often need to heat water for herbal infusions, like feverweed tea or koromiko for belly gripes. Hold your cup by the handle only. Don’t put your hand around the base.”
Leah held her cup out, as instructed.
“Now, the trick is to stand absolutely still so Liesar can aim. That will prevent you from being burned.”
The silver dragon rumbled her approval as she heated the water. “Not a twitch. She’ll be steady in emergencies.”
Hans came to the doorway, tugging on his riders’ jerkin. “Oh, tea? Could you make me one too?”
Marlies nodded at Leah. “That’s your second assignment.”
While Leah went inside to fetch another cup, Marlies said quietly to Hans, “I thought Ezaara would have come to see Erob by now.”
Hans arched his eyebrows over his emerald eyes. “Hasn’t she been in yet?”
“No,” Marlies replied. “She must be sleeping.”
Someone else knocked on the door. Adelina appeared on the ledge with Leah. “Do you know where Ezaara is?” she asked, frowning. “I thought she’d be here.”
“She’s not in her cavern?” Marlies asked.
“No, and no one’s seen her for hours.”
§
“Do you want to sit with us at lunch?” Gret asked after their combat session in the training cavern.
Lovina shook her head. “I’ll be along a little later.” Gret and Adelina always respected her need for space, never questioning her when she escaped the busy tumult of Dragons’ Hold for a little peace.
Lovina wandered through the tunnels aimlessly. She longed to see Tomaaz again, but he’d been so pale and tired when he’d returned from rescuing Erob, she’d insisted he get some sleep. Hours later, he was still sleeping. When he’d gone back to Death Valley, she’d been sure he’d become another of Zens’ victims, thrown on the flesh heap to rot. She hadn’t dared hope he’d survive. Hope hadn’t helped her family. Hadn’t helped her hold onto anyone she’d loved.
There. She’d admitted it. She did care for him—loved him. He nurtured something precious inside her.
Lovina suddenly realized that her feet had automatically brought her to the infirmary and Tomaaz’s family quarters. Oh well, since she was here, she may as well visit Maazini. Opening the door, she entered the infirmary. She’d stayed here for her first two weeks after arriving at Dragons’ Hold—she’d been so ill and broken. Two patients lay in beds sleeping, so Lovina gave Marlies a small wave.
“Tomaaz is still sleeping,” Marlies said quietly.
Lovina nodded and made her way through the rows of beds, and opened the door to the ledge outside. She tugged her jerkin shut, put on her gloves and pulled up her collar against the cold.
Erob’s sleeping form greeted her. Beyond him, Maazini was also asleep. Lovina sighed. She couldn’t wake them; they, too, needed sleep. This particular ledge was large enough for several dragons, providing necessary space to bring the wounded in from battle. A deep overhang provided shelter for the sleeping dragons and many more, if need be. She walked out from the protection of the overhang, her boots crunching on snow, and stood near the lip of the ledge.
When she’d first come here, two moons ago, she’d seen a verdant basin below, nestled among a ring of icy peaks. Dragons of every imaginable color had wheeled in the sky, looking like a scene off one of Bill’s bolts of cloth. An orchard of laden fruit trees had edged a patchwork of fields, hemmed in by a vast forest to the north. It had taken her breath away.
Now, shrouded in snow, with the lake glinting silver in the wan winter sun, the evergreens dusted with fine powder and the fierce peaks of Dragon’s Teeth standing like guardians, protecting her from her old life outside, Dragons’ Hold had a special type of pristine magic to it. A beauty that still made her breath catch.
Was that because she’d spent so many years in the arid waste of Death Valley—and then more in the grip of numlock,
