Trinket (Reverse Harem)

All Those Shortcomings

He impacted the dirt like a big cat landing from a tree branch. Korr and Ethat watched, still in dragon form. I scrambled off Itek as fast as I could, landing in a heap on the ground, and puked.

Itek clucked like an annoyed chicken.

I spit out the bad taste in my mouth, and shakily got to my feet. Itek sat down, curled his tail around his talons, and twitched the end of it, and stared down at me across the length of his deadly beak.

They'd brought me to a dusty set of corrals made of wood and wire. There were two low barns made of wood and sod. Horses and donkeys munched hay from large rolls. We were in a central courtyard of dirt packed so hard it'd become stone, and the dusty drive back to the main road twisted through the scrubby brush towards the south.

A few of the horses snorted at the dragons, while one of the donkeys looked like it was about to charge the fence.

Itek shifted into human form. "Do you have to be so dramatic?"

"Fuck off," I snapped, still spitting bits of puke out of my mouth. "Go crawl on Korr or something."

"Crawl on Korr?" he asked, then glanced at Korr, then back at me. "Did I miss something?"

I rolled my eyes. "You clearly think I'm blind and stupid. I might be a foundling but foundlings don't survive to adulthood being blind and stupid!"

"Did you hit your head falling off me? I tried to land where there were no rocks as a precaution." He looked around for any rocks.

"As a precaution?" I all but screeched. "You promised I wouldn't fall off."

"To be fair, I didn't promise."

Two men approached, one older, one younger, both wearing battered riding leathers and dusty shirts, and polished-to-a-shine boots. Both had fine leather gloves tucked into their belts, and both were plain vanilla human with weather-worn, bronzed skin from being out in the sunlight and wind.

Korr and Ethat settled down like some overgrown cats. Korr's scales shone in the sunlight. Ethat's flowers seemed to bloom brighter.

I fumed but shut up instead of continuing to screech like a baby griffon at Itek. Trinket + Trinket = couple. Korr and Itek wore their Trinkets plain as day, flaunting them against bare chests, probably using that to ward off the potential lovers that would have fallen over themselves, and Itek wanted to act like I didn't notice and thought that he and Korr were just diplomats from different clans that happened to share the same roost?

Hahhaa. Hilarious. Hilarious.

"Lord Itek," the older man said. "I presume?"

"Unless you happen to know another griffon currently in residence in Haven seeking riding lessons for his pet," Itek said, his tone neutral.

The men both glanced at me, then turned their attention back to Itek after given Korr and Ethat nods of acknowledgement. Itek cocked his head and told me, "Theia, this is [DUDE] and his son, [DUDE 2]. They train the best horses and riders in this part of the world."

I smiled, then hated myself for taking Yanice's nasty advice.

"She knows nothing worth knowing," Itek told them. "She rides like a terrified sack of potatoes."

"You fly like a fat, drunk, one-legged high-bred chasing a whore," I shot back.

Itek blinked and regarded me with mild astonishment. Korr and Ethat both snorted: Ethat expelling a cloud of fireflies, and Korr snowflakes.

"I didn't know griffins and dragons had cause to ride too often," [DUDE 2] said, ignoring my outburst.

"We don't often ride, but have been educated to that effect," Itek said. "As we said in our communication, we need her able to ride presentably in good company should the occasion arise."