Fate of Dragons

Chapter Twelve

Tesa let out an exasperated sigh and was about to argue, but Neela gave her a warning look and tilted her head slightly to the side. Tesa followed the gesture and saw Mr. Mao standing with his hands folded at the edge of the courtyard. He still watched her with that infuriatingly neutral expression on his face. Tesa narrowed her eyes and bore the ministrations of the attendants without comment.

Where have you been? She said to Orrie again. He flinched at her tone, so she added, Sorry.

I didn't know we would go so far, he said. He hung his head and looked at her sideways. You must have been bored in your room. He clambered down from the platform, dipped his head into the fountain, and splashed water back onto his wings.

It's not that, Tesa said, and she recounted what she had discovered in Fenn's letter. She was careful to only let her thoughts go to Orrie. She didn't want Aerix to hear too and tell Neela. Neela would be certain to want to talk about it right now, and Tesa didn't trust anyone in the temple.

Orrie's bathing became less enthusiastic and he became still as he listened to what she told him. Then his tail began to twitch and his wings flicked outward. Tesa told him to be careful not to let anyone know yet, and about her suspicions that the mages of Yennar-Lei had helped the Karume plan this. He masked his agitation by climbing to the top platform in the center of the courtyard and stretching his wings.

I can go find Gira now, Orrie offered.

Don't. Tesa didn't realize she'd shaken her head, too, until she felt pain as her hair was pulled out of the grip of the attendant who was braiding it. Tesa winced and apologized. I want to talk to Malía first. I need to see her when she finds out.

"Ouch," Tesa said aloud as her hair was pulled again.

"Plotting your escape?" Neela said, smirking.

"What? Oh. Just catching up," Tesa said. "Orrie doesn't mind listening to me complain."

"Uh huh," Neela said. Then she winced, too, as her attendant dragged a comb through her thick frizzy hair, then began a braid. Neela's head bobbed slightly with the rhythm of the braiding as she spoke. "That look on your face definitely had an air of friends catching up after a long day."

Tesa glared at the sarcasm and Neela laughed. Tesa wished she could tell her, but there were too many others about. She cast a sidelong glance at Glenna, who seemed to be staring at nothing. Glenna might even tell on her to Malía, make it seem like Tesa was keeping secrets again.

The attendants chattered in whatever other language they spoke here, but Tesa didn't assume they couldn't all understand Arethian. She glanced to Orrie and Aerix, then up toward the mountains. In the bright daylight, the spires looked less forbidding, less claw-like, and more like plain rocks. No sign of any caves or inhabitants could be seen from here. But she knew they were up there, and she knew they had to find them soon.

When Tesa turned her head back to the courtyard, Neela's teasing gaze seemed to have softened, although it may have been partly because they'd finished braiding her hair.

"I know it's hard to wait when they could be up there," Neela said. "But Malía knows what she's doing. We'll be better prepared if we have the help of the mages here."

Tesa nodded because she understood Neela's point, but only she knew that the mages of Yennar Lei might be no help to them at all. They might have every reason to want to help the riders fail.

"If it helps us go into our search better prepared, what difference could one day make?" Neela added.

Tesa's stomach twisted. One day's distraction might be exactly the difference the Karume wanted to make.