The Kingdom of Talador

Chapter Fifty

Rowan of Monalin

When Elizabeth had begun to lead Ro from the castle and out into Caelfall, she'd been both intrigued and skeptical. She was positive that there was no danger here—mostly positive, at least—considering both the details of "arrived on a dragon" and "sent by Da" were pretty convincing. However, Rowan had sent that pigeon yesterday afternoon. Late afternoon at that. There was no way Da had sent a pigeon north and got someone from Valnatta back that quickly.

But that was momentarily forgotten, when the two girls exited the gates of Caelfall, to see a dragon sitting casually not far away, two women calmly beside it. Rowan started to walk faster than Elizabeth, approaching with excitement and curiosity.

Seeing them coming, the dragon snorted, and the two women looked up from petting it. The taller of the two grinned and started to come over, and meet Ro halfway. She spread her arms as if to hug Rowan, and did so when they met. Ro was slightly confused, but she'd take it. "Rowan Seamussdotter~!" the woman cried, hugging Ro tight, before pulling back and holding her shoulders. "Oh I haven't seen you since you were but a babe! My how you've grown!" Her accent was like none Ro had heard before, but she quite liked it.

Unfortunately, she was a little embarrassed to be remembered, and to not remember. "Uh. I'm sorry, but....Have we...?"

"Oh,"the woman smacked her own forehead. "Of course. Why would you remember me. My name is Freja Osbjornsdotter of House Honor-Shield, in Valnatta. Way north. I knew your parents back when they still served the king in Monatekka."

Ro blinked. "Oh. Oh! Well! Pleasure t'meetcha—er, again—uh....Y'know, y'mentioned yer title, I think, t'Lizzy here but I don't think she understood it."

"D'oh," she hit her forehead again. "Jøra. It was jøra, wasn't it? I can never remember the word in common tongue, damn me. What is it....Daughter to the king?"

"Princess, Mama," the other woman, who Ro now saw was actually a girl, piped up from her place at the dragon's head.

Freja pointed at her daughter. "Princess! Damn that word. Oh." She grabbed Rowan and started pulling her towards the dragon, and her daughter. "Rowan, this is my daughter Brinn...." Brinn waved shyly. "And my dragon Gillene."

The dragon shook its head at the sound of its name, a feather floating to the ground. Its skin was of a pale yellow color, gold more like, and its feathers were snowy white, with flecks of brown. Its eyes were the most captivating however, a cold, piercing blue.

"Beautiful," Rowan murmured, though she'd be lying if she said she wasn't slightly intimidated.

"Aye, isn't she?" Freja agreed, affectionately petting the creature's face. The dragon shut her eyes and seemed to purr at the touch. "So! Your papa told me you've decided to try and raise a dragon, hmm?"

Ro opened her mouth, and then shut it, realizing she didn't know what she wanted to say first. "Uh. Aye. But. Excuse me fer askin', m'Lady...."

"M'lady! Bjarna, please, you can call me lady when I'm in silks and a court of royalty. It's just us women out here right now. But go on~."

The redhead started to grin. She liked this woman. "Right. How didja get 'ere so fast? I mean....I only wrote t'me da yesterday...."

Freja laughed, waving a hand. "Seamus wrote me the night you brought the egg home, sweetheart. He wanted advice, so I gave him my presence. But you were already gone by the time I got there. Your bird arrived not hours later than I did. Speaking of which; Brinn?"

The younger girl reached up onto Gillene and pulled something strapped to her back off. Then she came over and lifted the cloth over it to reveal the pigeon, sitting safely in a little cage. "Your bird," she said kindly, holding the cage out.