They flew for about an hour farther north before landing on a flat space of meadow.
I sat down in the dirt and trembled.
"We need to find this Assund," Itek said. "Either him, or record of him having been alive. He was Captain of a Guard. There has to be a record of him."
"Agreed," Korr nodded.
Ethat, still in dragon form and keeping watch for trouble, ruffled his wings. He lifted one claw and examined it. The green scales had turned a bit yellow. He breathed on his claw.
"Are you alright?" I asked, shaking off my fear for a second.
"Brother?" Korr inquired.
Ethat looked at his own claw. Also yellow on the bottom. He breathed on this one as well, then laid his wings flat against the ground. After a few minutes the edges of the wing membranes started to yellow.
"You're withering!" I exclaimed, jumping up.
"This place is more contaminated than we realized," Itek said, brow furrowing.
"I will take over," Korr stated. He shifted into his ice form, and Ethat traded places. Korr laid his ice-wings flat, causing frost to lash over everything so it collapsed in ice crystals like shattered glass. A layer of frost spread across the ground briefly, then warmed in the summer sunlight.
Korr's wings did not yellow or change.
"I am more vulnerable," Ethat said to me. "It is not concerning."
"Liar," I snapped.
"This place is very tainted," he said. "The taint lives deep in the ground, comes up through the plants and soil and bugs and everything else. I am vulnerable to it, as I am... what I am."
"You mean a green dragon?" I asked, feeling stupid.
Green silk swirled around him in the breeze. He grasped me by the waist and pulled me against his him. "I am more than green, my love. As you can sense, hmm?"
"Pervert," I said, ignoring the bulge against my hip. He tugged me closer, pressing into me.
Itek chuffed a laugh.
Ethat said, voice husky, "I'm fine, as you can feel. I'm very resistant to it, but I don't like to expose myself more than I have to. It has virtually no effect on Korr, and he can shield himself from it. The taint cannot come up through ice. It can fall in snow and rain, though, then it soaks back into the ground. But it is trapped in ice and frost."
"What about stone?" I asked. I tried to squirm out of his grip, but it didn't work.
"Stone can contain water. Stone can trap it, but the stone still leeches." Itek said. "Korr was chosen for this because his magic lets him resist the taint."
"And I am stubborn and we never wish to be apart," Ethat said.
"Can you... do anything about the taint? Purify it?" I asked.
"Not within my power. We should focus on this most spectacular mystery you've laid before us."
I sat back down on the frozen-wet ground. Korr had settled down as well, his magic providing a constant thin veneer of frost for us to sit on, but for Ethat, he provided a thick layer of ice, which melted in constant rivulets and formed a puddle.
I flicked little pebbles into the puddle. "I swear it was real."
"We believe you," Itek said. "But we have to figure out what happened. The first thing we need to do is find Assund. Either he is very much alive and had the same experience as you, or he is dead."
"You mean... I lived in the past?" I asked. "And time-travelled? Is that even possible?"
"There are legends," Ethat said cocked his head to the side.
Itek snorted. "It is more likely she lived in a dream."
"How do you live in a dream?" I asked.
"More legends, and some theories," Itek said.
Korr ruffled his scales. "You're at the edge of our knowledge. I know you believe dragons know everything, but even our vast knowledge does have limits. The other ancient shifters had their own secrets, and the rarest hybrids often guarded their discoveries jealousy. Magic in this world is fragmented."
"The ravens are collectors of such delicacies," Itek said dryly. "So don't speak too loudly."
Laughter from the dragons.
"Assholes," I said.
"Yes, yes, we are." Korr agreed, grinning with his large and gleaming teeth.
"Well, does this enclave Everfell actually exist?" I asked.
"It does exist," Itek said.
"Then let's go," I said.
"We'll have to fly very fast," Itek warned me.
"I don't care right now. I'll be scared later." I stood up and swiped half-frozen debris off my ass. I hated to fly. I hated it. But I hated this mystery more. At least I understood flying.
* * * * *
Everfell was a day's flight from what had been my home enclave.
It existed.
I dropped to my knees on the main road outside the gates as Itek alighted. It existed.
It was big, busy, prosperous. It could have two shacks and a dirty well and I wouldn't have cared: it existed.
I barely noticed the distraction the arrival of two dragons and a hippogryph caused, and the people gawking barely noticed human-looking me in the press of wings and feathers and claws and talons.
But some ravens appeared right away, swooping down out of the sky to greet us.
"Ambassador Korr, Itek, and Ethat," Korr said, raising his wings, and arching his neck. "We come on official business of our clans."
The ravens bounced back and forth on the road, then the two of them swept up into human form. They were young, unremarkable, and nothing like the ravens in Haven. A male and a female, dark haired, but wearing simple dark purple bound-clothing.
"Lord Perhon will be most honored to have you present," the female raven said, eyeing all of us with the slight head-tilt of a raven's inquisitive, sharp query.
"Lord Perhon!" I exclaimed under my breath. I tugged Itek's ruff. "That's who Assund said he served. Lord Perhon! It's his brother."
The ravens, however, overheard me, and turned their attention to me. "Yes, Captain Assund is the Captain of Lord Perhon's guards. What business do you have with him?"
Korr flapped his wings once, driving up bits of debris and dust, then tucked them against his sides primly. "Excellent. We have business with both of them. Where shall we wait for our timely audience?"
The ravens shifted.
"Get back on," Itek told me.
I crawled back onto his back, and felt him gather himself. "We can't just walk?"
"Apparently no," he said.
I held onto his feathers and tried not to scream too loud as he launched himself into the air after the ravens.
They took us across the enclave square and market, to a broad, wide, flat-topped building. There we alighted, giving us a view of the square and fountain. A few more servants—mostly wolf shifters and humans—arrived to hastily set out a rug with some refreshments, while the ravens murmured the required people would summon us in short order.
Short order ended up being several hours before some human valets appeared to escort us into the building itself, down marble hallways laced with slight coatings of dust from the constant sand blowing about.
"Let us speak," Korr told me under his breath. "You say nothing."
"I have nothing to say," I said. Korr could do the silky talking.
"Yes, but you do tend to run your mouth," he murmured, delivering a naughty swat to my backside. "Now mind your manners."
I rolled my eyes and marched after them, not really caring about anything except getting into the throne room as quickly as possible, which at least happened. When some legendary shifters show up at your enclave, you don't dawdle.
The throne room was large, with multiple thick columns, high ceilings, and long slender slits in the ceiling adorned with stained glass to let the light in. The stone floor was draped with brightly-colored rugs, but under it, the stones were cut and arranged in a mosaic of geometric shapes.
Lord Perhon sat on a raised dais, with Assund at his side, and several other guards and chancellor-looking types observing.
Assund looked exactly like I remembered him, even though it seemed like it had been long ago, when I tried to recall the memories. Like they were wrapped up in thin layers of tangled silk.
I pushed between Itek and Ethat to get a better look at him.
He also stepped in front of his brother, his hand going to his sword instantly—a wolf shifter with a sword?—and his face transformed in shock and fury. "You! You!"
Korr held out an arm to shield me.
Perhon leaned forward, one elbow on one knee. "Her? Since when did you keep company with scrawny humans? Is there a bastard pup somewhere I need to know about?"
"Of course not," Assund said in disgust. "She's from my dream."
Itek smirked. "You left an impression on this wolf's dreams."
"Nightmare," Assund corrected.
"Be careful who you insult, wolf," Ethat growled.
"Brother, you've probably seen her before in the market and just had a dream," Perhon said mildly.
"Do you have a trinket?" Assund demanded harshly.
"Does yours look like this?" Korr pulled off his necklace and held it forward.
Assund swung his attention to Korr.
The gold thorn glinted in the stained-glass light, but it was so distinctive that Lord Perhon grinned. "Brother, your perfect consort is a dragon." He clapped his shocked brother on the back from where he sat. "Now aren't you happy we decided to be civilized?"
Assund stepped down, face nonplussed, and the poor guy looked like he was relieved his dreams weren't pure insanity, and unhappy at having Korr as the gods' idea of his perfect mate. As Assund came closer, a strange feeling settled inside me, a yearning like when I'd seen Korr, Itek, and Ethat for the first time.
He'd been the first, I'd felt him first, and to see him again—it was right back there again.
He looked at me, betraying equal confusion, but scowling at the same time, and refocusing on Korr.
Korr reached out and ran his long fingers along the hair at Assund's temple. The wolf-shifter stiffened, carved muscles clenching, and his feet shifting along the dusty stones. Against his chest was the gold thorn I'd seen. He pulled it over his own head, and compared it to Korr's.
"It's identical," he said, not believing it, and looking at Korr.
"Am I not to your tastes?" Korr asked, his red tongue flicking between his pale lips.
Assund clenched the trinket in his palm. "You're not what I thought I want. I'm still not sure you are."
Korr put his necklace back on, and he said, tone almost dulcet, "Does perhaps someone else occupy your thoughts? Fear not, I am not jealous. The Churn selects the most ideal mate for anyone's given preferences and desires."
Assund looked at me, then quickly looked back to Korr.
Korr put his necklace back on, then took the necklace from Assund, and replaced it around the wolf's neck, trailing his fingers along Assund's shoulders, lightly, admiring Assund's physique.
Assund brushed Korr's hands aside. "Dragons. Save your games for someone else, they don't amuse me. I don't even know your name."
"Is my name important, under the circumstances?" Korr inquired sweetly.
Assund wasn't buying it. "Yes."
Korr laughed and tossed his hair. "I am Korr. This is my brother Ethat, and that is Itek. The woman you know."
"I don't know her. I have never met her."
"But you just said you knew her."
"No, I dreamed her."
"Did she tell you her name?" Korr said.
Another look at me, longer this time. My heart beat, and my the trinket still tucked against my breast pushed into my calloused skin with each painful throb. My skin prickled. Itek lowered his head and whispered, "Stay still. Say nothing."
"He's playing with him," I whispered back. "Just tell him!"
"Korr is protecting you," Itek whispered, watching Assund like the predator he was.
Korr took a step towards Assund. "You know her name. I can smell the fear on you, see it in your eyes, sense it upon you, like frost on a tip of... grass."
I almost rolled my eyes.
Assund did roll his eyes. "Is everything about sex with you, dragon?"
Korr grinned. "Don't have the courage to speak someone's name even after being properly introduced? Wait, did she not introduce herself properly in this dream?"
"Tsk, so rude," Ethat said.
"Brother," Perhon said while the other chancellors leaned forward and the other guards eyed their Captain. "Do you know her name?"
"And you don't think it might be a trick?" Assund said. "I will say her name, they will claim of course that is her name, and you will fall for it."
Perhon chuckled, then gestured to Korr. "Come, brother-in-law, whisper in my ear what the name of this mysterious not-human."
Korr ascended the stairs in a fluttering of icy silk that didn't cover anything at all, and whispered in Perhon's ear. Perhon nodded, and Korr returned to his place.
Assund folded his thick arms across his chest, still staring at me. He spoke my name like he'd never intended to say it out loud, and invoked some dangerous, ancient magic. "Theia. Your name is Theia. That's the name you gave me in the dream."
Perhon surged to his feet. "How is this possible?"
Assund looked to his brother.
"That is the name the dragon just whispered in my ear," Perhon said, voice tightening. "Brother, what is this!"
"It is what I told you," Assund snapped. "A nightmare, and now it is here!"
"Nightmare?" I asked, wounded. "I'm a nightmare?"
"That the gods chose some foundling mutt for him out of some dead, cursed enclave," Perhon said.
"You are the one who wanted him to enter the Churn to honor the gods," I snapped. "You made a political marriage, so he had to marry for love, and when the gods chose a foundling, you told him it was a nightmare?"
Perhon recoiled lightly, raising one hand as if to shield himself from me.
Ethat tapped one finger on his cheep and said, "I'm thinking this wasn't a dream."
"But you and I do not have the same Trinket," Assund said to me. "Yours is a ball with burrs. Mine is a thorn, as is Korr's. They are just pieces of the same mould."
Korr chuckled. "Not exactly."
Ethat and Itek pulled off their necklaces, and extended the gold thorns into the light.
Korr looked at the thorns, then said to Assund, "My brother and I are not lovers. You and I are not consorts. You are hers."
"This isn't possible!" Assund shouted.
"Did you hear that? Assund advises the gods on running our world," Korr told us cheerfully.
"I would like to see your trinket," Perhon told me firmly.
"Sure." I tossed it to him.
He caught it and winced as the burrs dug into his palm. He turned it over slowly, tapping his fingers against the thorns. "It is exactly as you described it, brother. And the thorn you have is exactly like the ones on this. It would seem... one man is not enough for this woman."
Snickers, then stifled under Assund's furious glare.
Perhon returned the trinket to me.
"We did not come to bring you home with us," Korr said as Ethat protectively pulled me against him. "You've already rejected her once. We won't give you a chance to do it again. We only wanted to verify you exist. You exist. We will be leaving now. Thank you, Lord Perhon, for your quick attention to this matter."
"You're leaving, like that?" Assund asked.
Ethat and Itek turned and herded me out of the throne room.
Yep. Like that.