Startled at being included in the conversation, it took Nira a second or two to respond, but then she pulled her amulet from inside her dress collar. She held it up and instantly found herself under the scrutiny of both Storm and her mighty father.
“It’s too small,” Ashley translated.
“I would make several of them in her size, like, say the size of a plate or platter,” Declan said. “I can recharge them when and if they run low, but so far my experiments show these trees on this island produce unusually powerful artifacts.”
Father and daughter dragon looked at each other, communing silently.
Ashley stepped over to Nira. “How are you feeling?”
“What?” Nira was confused.
“Right now, this moment, what are you feeling?”
“Sad, anxious, why?” Nira said, glancing at the others, who were paying close attention.
“Because those are the emotions that your friend Storm is conveying to her father. What else?”
“Ah, maybe excitement?”
Ashley nodded. “Yup, exactly right.” She turned to the others. “Nira here has an emotional bond with that young dragon, and it goes both ways. They can sense emotions from each other. It’s not telepathy, but it allows them to communicate in their own way.”
“What are you saying, Ash?” Declan asked.
“That perhaps if Storxyan agrees, Nira might come to Earth with her to help you all communicate. I can’t be there a lot, especially as I think the big G over there is about to go on a warpath. It’s just a thought.”
The smaller dragon whipped around at Ashley’s words and looked right at Nira, her expression clearly hopeful. Nira laughed despite all the emotions flooding through her. She was simultaneously afraid and too excited for words. She looked at her father, frowning.
“It sounds like it would be a grand adventure, and just a few weeks,” Armond said. “I was talking to young Stevie, and he might try his hand at woodworking to see if he’d make a likely apprentice.”
“But the garden? Preparations for winter?” she asked.
“Stevie can help with some of that, and all the gold our Lord Realm Holder paid will make for a comfortable winter no matter what we both do,” her papa said. “It’s just a few weeks and you had such fun in Idiria, daughter. How could you pass up such a chance?”
Nira glanced around at all the faces watching her. Virtually the entire community was there. She saw Lottie and Bett and the rest of the women’s council, she saw Milken Waxwillow and his father, Lentin and Rhine Cobblink, Old Kenny, and standing shoulder to shoulder, Keply and Nattle. The entirety of her previous life was standing on that field, and the path of her future began and ended there, except for the fork in the path that was Storm.
Suddenly she got a belly full of dragon nose as Storm shoved her head up against her. She felt hope and… love, pouring off the dragon. “I would be honored, my lord,” she said without looking away from the big black eyes that were focused on her.
Storm pulled back and trumpeted to the sky.
“Anyone need a translation for that?” Ashley asked.
“Nope, clear as day,” Stacia said. “Let’s get to work,” she said to her mate.
And she was right. There were impromptu flying lessons with Ashley, who also provided a spare jacket. There was packing of her stuff, again, while her father obtained the wood that Declan wanted. The lord of the realm spent hours carving two plate-sized amulets and secured them to ship’s rope. He handed them to Nira, and she presented them to Storm. One side was an image of Storm herself, and on the other, a very good likeness of Nira. The dragon was very taken with them, preening and trumpeting about the fields.
In all, it took three days to get fully prepared. Nira used her little spare time to clean up the garden, make sure the hawk-chickens were re-settled, and even prepare some food for her father.
Finally, it was time, and the whole island came to see them off. First, Gargax and Ashley said their goodbyes and then left for the north. The pallets of witchwood were carted to the field and sat on the ground near where Nira was saying goodbye to her father.
“Ready?” Stacia asked her. She nodded, too excited and also scared for words.
The beautiful Lady of the Middle Realm nodded at her lord and without any fanfare, he gestured at the open field in front of them. A tear appeared in the very air, widening rapidly until it was bigger than a wagon’s length. The scene before them was another field, this one with alien flowers, a different yet familiar-looking forest in the distance. Declan kept one hand pointed at the opening and waved his other hand at the heavy stacks of wood. Without a sound, they floated up and through the opening. Then he nodded at Stacia and she took Nira’s hand, leading the girl and the young dragon through the tear in reality. Nira stepped out onto a lush field that smelled of flowers and grass instead of ocean and salt. She glanced back to see Declan stepping through, her father waving at her from behind. She waved once and the doorway zipped itself shut.
Turning around, her hand on Storm’s warm hide, she spotted a set of buildings whose lines were the straightest she’d ever seen. An attractive woman perhaps a decade older than Declan stood watching them, a bright smile on her face. For all the alienness of the world around her, the woman looked like she’d fit right in with the people Nira had left behind, although many of the women’s council would not want their husbands chatting
