28. Distance
The two bickered for seemingly forever until agreeing to just fly the last hour and make it to Salis Fal, rather than stay anywhere near the shore where the eel had attacked. After nine hours of flight with only a brief two hour break at the end Safraxi was once again at her limit.
When she spotted a temple with a landing zone for dragons in the city she just sucked it up and landed there without delay. She didn’t want to deal with changing into a smaller form and making camp or finding an inn, and at this point she was sure she’d gone far enough to shake Amjazel and Emren.
A shrike priestess came out to greet them both as they landed with a giddy expression on her face. Her robes were not nearly as auspicious as Miveri’s, but the small additions of silver embroidery around the collar identified her as the lead priestess of the city. “Welcome! What a pleasant surprise!” She greeted them both with open arms. “What can I do for you? I am at your service!”
“Need to sleep. Been flying all day.” Safraxi was exhausted and deadpan. She was just relieved that she’d be able to talk with the priest instead of having to shape-shift or relay through Tifse.
“Of course, sacred beast! We have one empty stall still. I shall get it prepared for you. Would you like a wing massage?” She lead them both to the interior. The temple had an arched interior with plenty of space. The building may even be able to barely fit Rubis inside. It was yet another relief, she didn’t feel like squeezing through some cramped corridors to wherever she was sleeping tonight.
“Uh…” Safraxi was surprised at the offer. She knew that many priests served dragons like this, but Amjazel and Emren preferred to do most things themselves. She hadn’t had much contact if at all with the ministry since her change.
“I can do it, if you just show me how.” Tifse volunteered. “I’m the one that forced us to go an extra hour after we were attacked by an eel…”
“Ah, yes. I have heard the boiler eel is a problem again. Aquixi, daughter of Amjazel, slayer of beasts, was supposed to have killed it when she passed through last week.” She seemed to be quite careful with her tone. She was clearly annoyed on some level that it hadn’t stuck, but didn’t want to disrespect the dragon.
“Sounds like her to leave a job half done.” Safraxi grumbled at the thought of Aquixi and rolled her eyes at the honorifics. She hated knowing that the older dragon had been here not that long ago. She supposed it made some sense, if she was in the southern Dragon Lands or the Dragon Gulf then one of her many possible routes did take her through Stefaial.
“Oh, do you know her?” If the priestess detected any of the distaste in the blue dragon’s tone she gave no indication. They had reached a pair of massive barn-style doors, and another priest opened them for the trio. Inside Safraxi found a round space with two arched doorways, each leading into a room. When the priestess called them stalls she was being quite literal. They had swinging wooden doors like you’d see in a horse stall outside. It wasn’t much for privacy, but it was free, she supposed.
“Yeah, met her once. Didn’t get along.” She waited for the priestess to move forwards first. The woman had said only one stall was empty. She just hoped the other dragon was asleep. She didn’t need some sort of awkward family reunion or introduction to some distant aunt or cousin or something she didn’t give a shit about.
“Oh that’s such a shame. I found her quite pleasant. This one on your right is open.” She gestured to the stall. “Someone will be by with fresh bedding soon. Is there anything else I can get you? Food? Water?”
“Water, please.” Tifse interjected. Both of them were parched after the hours of flight through the hot desert. “We’ve already eaten, we’ll just want something in the morning.”
“Of course! Get some rest, you two. Do you have any business in town I can assist with, or are you just passing through?” One of the other priests came around the corner behind her and stepped into the empty stall, carrying a huge armful of blankets with him.
“Just looking for a friend of hers.” Safraxi nodded toward Tifse. “We should have it handled on our own.” With that the dragon slunk into the stall and collapsed on the blanket spread out along the floor.
Tifse followed her in a moment later and started unhooking her saddle and bags. The saddle was comfortable enough, but she had a feeling Safraxi needed another proper night of good sleep. That flight should at least be the last long one they would have to do for some time. Who knew? Maybe they might even stick around with Audirei?
… Would Safraxi even want to stick around? The dragon seemed aimless right now. Tifse knew she harbored some desire to go back to Tiskin one day and exact some sort of revenge on her birth parents, but who knew if she would go through with it or when?
“I don’t know either, Tifse.” Safraxi grumbled and rolled onto her back so that Tifse could access the buckles secured around her belly. “You can just ask instead of worrying about it.”
“Wasn’t that worried.” The fox leaned over and began to unhook and unbuckle the straps keeping the saddle attached. “Just… thinking.”
“You were worried. Your ears were flattened and you were chewing your lip again.” Safraxi rolled back over and shook off a bit once she was freed from the saddle. “Don’t think I don’t pay attention.”
Tifse blinked in surprise. Her lip was a little sore, now that attention was brought to it. “Tiskin is small, but…”
“I’ll have some kind of plan when I try my takeover, don’t worry.” She grabbed the fox and pulled her in against her chest.
Tifse struggled for just a moment as she was swept off her feet and pulled in. So it was the nice Safraxi again now? Or the fox Safraxi? But she wasn’t a fox now. She wasn’t sure how to best label these different ‘versions’ of the dragon she was noticing more and more. She’d even seemed completely different in the tunnels when she used her cold breath for the first time.
“Is that you, Arxet?” Rubis’s words echoed in her mind from that heart wrenching moment. Not even Safraxi’s sister had recognized the blue dragon as she had come into view, and Rubis could see Safraxi in her dragon form right in front of her. When Amjazel and Emren had tracked them down in Cleninlod they hadn’t recognized their own daughter, even if she was in a different form at the time.
“Just leave it alone, Tifse, please.” Safraxi curled her head tighter and tucked it under a wing.
“Alright, sorry.” The fox whispered back and rubbed the dragon’s chin lightly. “Do you still want that wing massage? You did fly pretty far today.”
“Yeah… yeah, that sounds nice.” She lifted her legs to let Tifse squirm back out and get the priestess. “Thanks.”
“No, thank you. I… you’ve taken us so far just so I could admit I have a crush. Wasn’t our bonding supposed to be a punishment?” The fox joked from a distance as she flagged down the priestess again.
“Eh, maybe you’ve been punished enough.” Safraxi spread her wings out and tucked her legs under her body, ready for whatever massage the priestess was about to teach Tifse. “Maybe we’re all we’ve got.”
Safraxi was up early the following morning. That had been the best sleep she’d had in recent memory. As her eyes slowly blinked open she found Tifse trying to gently wiggle out of her grip. She could feel an uncomfortable fullness in her own bladder, and her rider’s. “You could have just asked. It’s not like I don’t need to go too, pipsqueak.” She yawned and released the fox.
Tifse stumbled out onto her hands and knees on the blanket before standing up and making a break for the latrine. “Was half awake, give me a break!” She had to go all the way across the temple to the outhouse in the back.
Safraxi just stretched and went out to the canal beside the temple to relieve herself. There were walls constructed specially to give dragons privacy during the act. “Whatever. Did me a favor anyways. We going down to the docks after breakfast to check if her ship’s come in?”
“Yeah.” Tifse finished up quickly and returned to the stall. “I don’t remember the name of the ship, but we can just ask around about any ships coming in from Fellrock, maybe. She’s on a passenger vessel, not a cargo vessel.”
“Who are you looking for?” Another voice joined the conversation, projected to both mentally.
Tifse turned around and found another dragon peeking over the top edge of the door to the other stall. “Oh, um. Just a friend of mine?” She quickly swapped to speaking with Safraxi more privately, the two had unintentionally been openly communicating. “Other dragon is here.”
“Yeah, I heard, I’m coming back.” Safraxi groaned and trotted back in to get her saddle back on. Regrettably, she couldn’t fly away yet.
As she came in she found the dragon peeking out to greet her as well. She was about five times Safraxi’s size, but still not as large as Rubis. She had likely only been a dragon for twenty to thirty years, depending on what generation she was. Her scales were a pale green, like an algae bloom, and her eyes were a dark earthy brown. Her back fin was more rigid looking, and had a distinctly aquatic appearance, the same as Aquixi, also with the crown of horns which quickly identified her as another of Amjazel’s line, likely a granddaughter or great granddaughter. Aquixi was supposed to be almost as old as Amjazel, who knew how many generations fell under them? “Hey!” The green dragoness pushed out of her stall to greet Safraxi. “Nice to meet you, cousin! You must be new, you’re pretty small still. You wouldn’t happen to be the new daughter I heard grandma Amjazel was having, would you?”
“Nah, that ain’t me. You’re thinking of Arxet, I’m Safraxi.” She stepped into her room and gestured with a nod of her head for Tifse to follow. “Wish I could chat but we are in a hurry.”
“Right, right.” The larger dragon followed her over to watch from the doorway into Tifse and Safraxi’s room. “No worries. I hear the winds have been favorable for ships and flight, so your friend might be in early. I’m Jadali, by the way. Who’s your parent then? You’re not one of my mom’s too, she would have told me.”
“Who would that be, then?” Safraxi dodged the question and put herself in the correct stance to be saddled quickly.
If Jadali noticed the evasion she gave no indication. “My mother is Aquixi. She sired me nineteen years ago.”
“Good for you. Hurry up, Tifse, please.” She swished her tail with impatience.
Jadali tilted her head at the tone. “You and mom didn’t get along, did you?”
Tifse was not moving nearly as fast as Safraxi would have liked, but it’s not like there was much that could be done about it. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“I won’t pry.” The green dragon stepped in and gently bumped her head against Safraxi’s. “I know she can be intense. She really does mean well though.”
“Yeah, sure seemed like it when she took her sister’s side without ever hearing even part of the story and assumed I was the asshole.” She finally had the saddle on and picked up her rider to get out of there as soon as possible.
Jadali moved to make room for her to exit. “I’m sorry she did that. Would you like me to talk to her?”
“Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if Amjazel already had.” Tifse slapped her dragon’s snout away as she was sat down. “Honestly, Arx- Safraxi,” She was still sometimes struggling to get the name right, “I can get up myself.”
As the name slip up hit Jadali’s eyes softened. “I understand. Are you sure there isn’t anything I can do to help you, Safraxi?”
“I’m fine, thank you.” Safraxi picked up her pace to get to the courtyard where she could take off again. “This was such a mistake, Tifse. Tiamat’s tail I ran into my fucking niece. She’s going to tell everyone that we were here.”
Jadali was still following behind as they reached the courtyard. “Your secret is safe with me. Believe me, I know better than anyone how my mom can be, but she cares. She wants what’s best for everyone, she just… struggles with compromise.”
“I’m so glad you can stand her then.” Safraxi turned to face the dragon and really scrutinize her. “Why do you care so much about my secret? Shouldn’t you be telling everyone where I am now or something?”
“I’m friendly, not naive.” The green dragoness shook her head. “Lots of dragons find that solitude fits them better. Why do you think I live here instead of in the dragonlands with mom, hunting monsters and eating raw meat all day? No way, I like civilization, and I like to be useful, but I’m not much in a fight. I know some healing spells, never really found a rider that felt right for me, so I just talk with the priests, and they get messages across for me. Every now and then I help sniff out a lost child, rescue someone from a sinking ship, or scare off wolves with a bit of flame. It’s a simple life. Not everyone belongs in Fellrock.”
“What, you’re suggesting I just go be a lazy city dragon like you?” She snorted. She hated the idea of sticking in one place and just being another ministry crony.
Jadali snorted and laid down on her haunches. “Ouch, lazy? Really? I know I’ve put on a little weight but… no. What I’m suggesting is try letting your family love you from a distance. See them when you want to, have space when you need. Not everyone wants to just stick around at the house forever like aunt Rubis.”
“I… I don’t understand.” She relaxed just a little. Her wings lowered, no longer ready to take off at a moment’s notice.
“Take the time you need. Get your head on straight, figure out what kind of dragon you want to be, HEAL. Then, once you’re ready, stop by. Maybe hire a courier to let them know how you’re doing. Have your rider write a little something with your words.” She nodded her head at Tifse. “There are some families worth cutting out completely, families you can’t stand to be away from, and there are some you just need to take in small bites. Our family can be the third option quite often.”
Safraxi considered the words. Part of her did miss Amjazel and Rubis on some level, but… she had simply left things off wrong. They wouldn’t treat her the same after that. She and Tifse both knew it. “I’ll… make no promises.” With that she turned and launched from the courtyard and away from the temple.