Enola
Thirty years ago...
"Hi sky-wi... eep!" I was still fanning my wings out in excitement when the image of the blue dragon vanished. I dipped my head in embarrassment and put my hand back on the crystal formation, and the blue dragon appeared again a few seconds later. "S-sorry..."
The older yellow dragon who was assigned to this guardpost grinned a little, but he didn't say anything. He had politely shown me how to use the communication crystal before giving me space to make the call, and he was showing me the professional courtesy the Sea Guard showed when on duty... but I guess my excited clumsiness had been a little too much for his professionalism.
If Cess noticed my embarrassment or thought anything of my silly mistake, he didn't say anything. He just looked happy, and he smiled back at me while waving with one of his wings. "Hi there, sweet-wings. How's your trip been so far?"
"It's been great! It's further than I thought, but I'm only a week or two from the ocean now. And the guard posts have been easy to find, and everyone I met has been really helpful." I smiled again as I thought about the three dragons I had met so far, not counting the yellow dragon I had met tonight, and how they had made sure I had gotten plenty of food and a comfortable place to sleep. "They've all been super nice."
Cess's grin grew wider as he nodded, and I caught the sudden teasing expression in his eyes. "They probably got word that a new healer recruit was on her way through. I'm sure they'll go back to normal once they realize they've mistaken you for her."
I rolled my eyes. "Cesssss... go on, be a jerk." I giggled, letting him know I wasn't upset with his teasing, and looked back at the image of the blue dragon inside the crystal. "I'm nothing special; they're just being professional and courteous, and you know it."
"Ha!" The teasing expression faded from Cess's eyes. "Every healer is special, and you've shown a lot of promise as one. And I know you know that – it's how you got into the Sea Guard so early, instead of having to wait another two years to be old enough. You're going to be apprenticing at some post far away from any possible fighting for a while, to make absolutely sure you're safe, but trust me, Enola. You're special."
He reached up with his free hand and tapped one of his horns, and I lowered my head in a slight blush. It was a reminder of the first time I had done healing magic. Cess had gotten into a fight with another dragon – some tussle over something silly, the way we were always doing back when we were hatchlings – and the other dragon had broken Cess's horn. That normally wouldn't have been that big a deal, except that his mother's rider was sick at the time, and she was focusing her magic on helping her rider through the illness. She hadn't wanted to be distracted from that, especially just for something as minor as a horn that would grow back on its own in a few months, and she had told him he would just have to take that as a lesson to not pick fights.
I had come across Cess sulking under his wing, and I had pestered him for the next ten minutes straight before he had pulled his head out of his wing to yell at me. That had shown me the problem with his horn, and from there I had dragged him – and the broken piece of horn that he still clutched in one hand – back to my parents' den. A bit of digging through some scrolls had found the instructions for the basic spell to mend a bone, and... then I had regrown his horn. There hadn't even been a seam to show where the break had been – if Cess hadn't still been holding onto the broken piece, nobody would have known it had ever been broken.
Mom and Dad had been proud of me for managing such a complicated spell so easily, and all the other adults had made a big deal of it. They had examined Cess's horn – much to his annoyance – and gave me a bunch of other spells to try. Until they had finally decided I had a talent for healing magic. Everyone treated me like that was something special, and it had caused me to get into more than a few fights myself with some jealous hatchlings... but I didn't really think it was that big a deal.
It was just the magic I did. Some dragons were good with lightning magic, or earth magic, or at flying. The magic I was good at just happened to make other dragons better, that was all.
I ducked my head a little and tried not to blush. Cess caught my embarrassment and softened his grin a little. "Everyone here is excited to meet you. They can still barely believe an apprentice healer is willing to join the Sea Guard. We're all really glad you're coming, and can't wait until you get here."
My cheeks felt a little warmer, and I tried not to look him in the eyes. I was excited about joining the Sea Guard, even as much as I hated the idea of being around any fighting, but... I had made the decision to join the Sea Guard last year, when Cess had joined.
Because Cess had joined.
"Um... I needed to talk to you about that, actually." I looked back up at Cess and saw the sudden concern in his eyes. "About when I get there."
"Is something wrong?"
"I don't think so, but I felt something weird when I was flying here today. About halfway between the guard posts, near the lake." I thought back to the strange magic I had sensed. It had felt... wrong, was all I could think of to describe it. Like when someone was sick, and I sensed the illness in their body. "I'm sure it's nothing, but I just want to take a closer look at it."
Cess was frowning and looking off to the side – probably at one of the maps he would have there at his outpost – but he nodded slowly. "Okay. I'll let everyone know you'll be delayed. We'll try to give it another day before we get any bumps or bruises that need patching up." He grinned as he looked back at me, but his eyes still looked serious. "Call me again tomorrow night, okay? If you don't, I'm going to assume some humans kidnapped you, and send the Guard out to rescue you."
I grinned a little and nodded. "Yes, dad. If you don't hear from me tomorrow, it'll be because I got kidnapped. You can come dashing over like in those bedtime stories, where the hero rescues the helpless dragoness from the evil knights."
Now it was Cess' turn to roll his eyes. "I mean it, sweet wings. You're part of the Sea Guard now. We have to know you're okay."
I smiled, but gave him a serious nod. "I understand. I'll just fly back to the lake and take a closer look around, then fly right back here and call you. Afternoon, nightfall at the latest."
The blue dragon half-closed his eyes and spread his wings a little. "Thanks, Enola." He opened his eyes back up and gave me another smile that made my wings feel a little weak. "Now go get some sleep. Looking forward to seeing you when you get here – goodnight for now, sweet-wings."
"Night, sky-wings."
I took my hand away from the crystal, and the image of the blue dragon faded away. I gave a thankful nod to the yellow dragon to let him know I was done, then skipped off to the smooth bed that had been pointed out for me.
Just a quick look around a lake for whatever that weird magic was, then a few more days flight, and I'd get to see Cess again. I had really missed him this last year apart, and I was looking forward to seeing him again, too.
I sprawled on the smooth stone and drifted off to sleep.
~
I held my wings steady as I glided around the lake the next day. Something was definitely wrong here, but I couldn't figure out what. I was concentrating as hard as I could with my mage senses, and I could feel the same strange magic I had felt the day before, but... I couldn't figure out where it was.
The map said I should be near 'Lakeshire', which had turned out to just be a small human settlement on one side of the lake – a few of their small buildings, 'houses' I think they were called, and a lot of flat area where the trees had been cleared away – but the rest of the lake was undisturbed wilderness. There was an odd 'buzzing' feeling a few miles away from the lake, near where the land turned hilly, but that felt like it was just an underground magic spring of some kind. It was powerful magic, and if I remembered my studies right it probably meant a sizeable growth of magic crystals somewhere nearby, but it wasn't the source of the 'wrongness' I kept feeling.
I frowned as I felt the spell tap against my mage senses again. Where was the darned thing coming from?...
It couldn't be something the humans were doing, could it? It did seem like the feeling was slightly stronger when I was on that side of the lake, but it didn't seem to be coming from any of their buildings. And I hadn't seen any humans all day – even though I had flown over the buildings a few times now, none of them had come out to watch me. Which... might be odd? My father's rider had said humans tended to be curious and wanted to know what was going on, and the books I had read had said about the same, but... maybe these humans were too busy with something else to be curious?
Something like hiding some weird-feeling spell they were casting?
But humans were all bad at magic. One of the first spells I had learned – one of the first spells most of my family had learned, actually – had been a simple heating spell to help cook food. Because the riders were so bad at it, and otherwise would have to spend all day gathering sticks to rub together, since that was the only way they could make a fire. And I had most definitely not set the lair on fire when I had learned that spell.
That didn't matter though. What mattered was it didn't seem like the humans could be behind the odd magic.
I growled as I felt the strange spell again. It was already early afternoon, and I was no closer to finding the source of the spell. I was going to have to head back soon if I wanted to call Cess by nightfall – and I did, since I didn't want him worried for no reason. He would send someone to check on me, and that would only get us both into trouble if it turned out I was just wasting time flying around a silly lake out in the middle of nowhere.
But it was useless. Whatever the source of the odd magic was, I wasn't going to find it in time. I angled my wings and started to descend towards the lakeshore. A quick drink and another lap around the lake just in case, then I would head back to the guardpost. Hopefully none of my new superiors in the Sea Guard would be upset by the waste of time I had gone through...