Authors: Ava Walsh
Some six hours later, Teresa would’ve killed for one of those contraptions their creators claimed purified urine into drinking water. Hunger did not bother her much, as the harsh summer heat effectively killed her appetite, but thirst was a different matter altogether. She did her best to stick to the shade and barely moved at all to conserve energy, but to no avail. Bit by bit, the sun was draining her, until she began to see things, like boats on the horizon and dragons in the sky...
Wait... dragons?
Was it Kenner? Had he found the Skatians? Was he returning to her?
Gathering every last ounce of drive she possessed, Teresa rose to her feet just as the dragon lowered itself for a landing, shapeshifting in that familiar, fluid way as its feet touched the ground.
But instead of Kenner, the Darkwing who landed on the atoll’s shores was none other than Mara herself.
The disappointment was too much for Teresa’s exhausted faculties, and she lost consciousness , falling at the dragon lady's feet.
When she finally woke again, she was locked away in a cage, in the basement of the Long House on the Central Isle of Kinai, and Elder Fanag was sitting on a stool in front of her.
“Oh, thank heavens!” the old woman sighed in relief, “I was afraid we’d lost you, child.” Still weak, Teresa somehow managed to sit up, barely able to keep her eyes open. Her throat felt too dry to make any sounds, let alone speak, but Elder Fanag waved her hand and poured something that smelled divine into a wooden bowl she handed to Teresa through the bars. “Do not force yourself to speak. You’ll just hurt yourself more,” the old woman advised her. “Then again, I doubt it would’ve made much of a difference if you could speak. I’m afraid the Council of Elders decided Kenner and you have violated our most sacred laws, and the only reason they haven’t executed you yet is because they want to cut the both of you together and send your heads to the Skatian Emperor.”
A flash of panic ran over Teresa’s face, but the Elder just waved her head sadly. “I’m sorry, child. I can believe Kenner had only the best of intentions when he told you about the Rookery and the Joining,” she said. “And I might even believe you when you say you kept his confidence. But the evidence points in the opposite direction, and this is too grave a subject for even the smallest amount of leniency towards the accused. If Kenner returns of his own volition and accepts punishment for his sins, he might make it out of this with his life, though nothing more than that. You, however... nothing short of a miracle can save you.”
The old woman rose from her stool. “Eat. Finding Kenner might take a while, and there’s no need to make your last days any more uncomfortable than they have to be.” She gave Teresa a sad smile. “I hope whatever gods you pray to take your soul under their merciful fold,” she said, and left.
Alone in the dark, Teresa put down the bowl and laid back down on the floor, curling herself up. She fought the urge to cry, refusing to give up hope.
So long as Kenner was out there, she had to have faith that he would come to her rescue one more time.
The sun was setting by the time Kenner reached the Central Isle of Kinai. He hovered over the Long House until the Elders, the Darkwing Squardron lead by Mara and anyone else who wanted to see this altercation had gathered, and then he opened the paw of his left hind leg and an unconscious Skatian woman in tattered clothes dropped on the ground with a loud thud. Only then did he land, the crowd making way for his massive beastly form. He was too tired to shift in the air, and his exhaustion showed plainly on his face once he was a man again.
“Who is this?” one of the Elders demanded.
Kenner replied with more patience and respect than he had believed he had in him at that moment. “She is Esplyn of House Rida, the Skatian noble who once owned my Teresa. Arul can confirm her identity for you. She is to be kept in the cages of the Long House until she is fit enough to testify against the person who revealed to her the secret and the location of the Rookery.”
“You do not give orders here anymore!” Mara snapped at him, but Kenner only gave her an annoyed look and turned back to the Elder.
“Even if what she says is true, I am still owed a fair trial,” he said calmly, knowing, unlike Mara, that letting his emotions get the better of him was not the smart thing to do. “As was Teresa,” he added. “But all I found when I came back for her were a few fallen scales, so I’m assuming you’re keeping her prisoner.” There was no mistaking the open threat of those words, and the Elder who was squaring off with him gulped.
“You assume correctly.” Elder Fanag appeared then. “But she has already been convicted, and is but awaiting execution.” The corner of the Elder’s lips turned upwards a little, as if she had been praying something like this would happen, but she continued in her usual, detached tone. “However, if you can provide new proof attesting to her innocence, and the value of that proof can be verified, then your Teresa might yet come out of this ordeal with her life.”
She turned to the other members of the Council. “I suggest we all retire for the evening, to allow for Kenner and his witness to rest and replenish their strength,” she said. “We can hear the testimonials and conduct Kenner’s trial on the morrow.” As no one had anything against the idea, the crowd began to dissipate, but Elder Fanag had a few more words to say. “I shall host your lady witness, Kenner,” she informed him, her tone such that it made clear he would do better not to argue with her. “You may sleep in your home, but the Darkwing Squadron will serve as your security detail.” Kenner translated from between the lines: you are a flight risk, and we will not risk letting you out of our sight again.
Kenner simply nodded and walked towards his house, the Squadron trailing him in two straight lines. The one to the left was headed by Arul. The one to the right, by Mara, who, as usual, had something to say.
“What do you see in that fat bitch to risk everything you have for her?” she wanted to know. “You never fought like that for me.”
“She is the love of my life,” he replied honestly. “And you weren’t worth fighting for.”
That stunned Mara so profoundly that she stopped dead in her tracks, and the members of the Squadron who followed did the same, like the well-oiled machine they were.
Kenner, Arul and the rest didn’t wait for them.
Tomorrow morning, upon receiving the summons form the Council of Elders, Kenner made his way into the Long House, where every bit of space that could be occupied had been filled. There were too many spectators for Kenner’s comfort, but the more people could see firsthand what was about to happen here, the better it was for Teresa, so he gritted his teeth and endured for her sake.
When he saw her brought in, her skin pale and her hands tied behind her back, he tried to reach her and free her from her bonds, but Arul and another member of the Squadron stopped him. “She’s just a little sickly from dehydration,” his friend whispered in his ear. “I know it pains you to see her so, but you’ll do her no favors if you lose your temper now.” He was right, as usual, and Kenner paid heed to his second’s advice, well aware of the results that had come from failing to do so the last time.
As per custom, the accusers had the first say, with Mara spewing venom in every direction, and both Arul and her dumb little lover boy called in as her witnesses. The men simply repeated the same statements as before, with minimal displays of emotion, Mara’s lover out of embarrassment and Arul for the sake of objectivity.
When the defense’s turn came, Kenner stood up for both of them. He asked that Lady Esplyn be brought, since they had kept her away to make sure that nothing could influence her to change her testimony, and so she wouldn’t accidentally overhear anything pertaining to the true nature of the Rookery.
When she came in, all pride and elegance, flanked by two guards at each side, Kenner asked Arul and several other members of the Squadron who’d met the lady during their mission to Wallaria to confirm her identity. Then he finally called the lady herself, who, as it turned out, had quite a tale to tell.
“About... oh, two or three nights ago, this one...” she began, in her signature insincerely sweet voice, and pointed straight to Mara, making several people in the Long House audibly gasp, “...appeared on the roof of my mansion and demanded that I speak with her. She knew how devastated I was, because the Emperor made me sell my Hele to... this...” She made a disgusted face as she looked at Kenner, who gave the insult exactly as much attention as it deserved – nothing. “She offered me a chance to both get her back and get a brand-new, Kinai slave free of charge. She told me to send the best oarsmen I could find in a few kayaks, and have them meet her on a designated day at the designated time at the base of your stupid volcano, and she would bring Hele and a Kinai boy tied and gagged. Just imagine my surprise when she not only backed out on her own agreement but brought another one of her friends with her, and then killed the men I had sent to meet her and sunk their kayaks!” From the sound of it, Lady Esplyn mourned the loss of her boats more than the men who operated them.
“Lies!” Mara screamed. “It’s lies, all lies! Kenner must’ve paid her to perjure herself!”
But Lady Esplyn only laughed to that accusation. “He couldn’t afford it,” she replied condescendingly. “And besides, my ship still lies in your waters, where this brute dragged it onto the Obsidian Ridge,” she added, pointing angrily at Kenner. “Just fly out there and question the crew. They know everything.”
Realizing at last that her scheme had just imploded before her very eyes, Mara tried to flee, but the Blackwings didn’t allow her to get very far.
Kenner, however, decided he had waited much too long as it was, and ran to Teresa’s side. The crowd around them alternated between congratulating them and jeering at Mara, as she was taken away to wait for her trial in the cages, while the Elders attempted to call for some order, and failed miserably.
Only Elder Fanag looked happy at this unholy mess, smiling at Kenner and Teresa, and patting him on the back. “Well done, boy,” she praised him. “I knew you could do it.”
Kenner wisely decided not to remind the Elder that she was contradicting some of her earlier statements and, instead, put his arm around Teresa’s shoulders and nodded. “Thank you... but, if you’ll excuse us now, we’d rather like to go home.”
The old lady shooed them away, laughing all the while, and Kenner was glad they could get the hell out of there.
There were things he had to say to his Teresa, things he had to do to show her just how much he had missed her, and he could only feel free to indulge those needs in the privacy of their own house.
After the initial drama, the rest of the process went far more smoothly and quickly.
Lady Esplyn was questioned some more, and when it became clear she was only Mara’s dupe and knew nothing of consequence to the Kinai, she was flown back to her home in Wallaria by Arul. And, since he was already going to the Skatian capital, the First Lieutenant of the Blackwing Squadron was also tasked with paying a visit to the Emperor with a large chest of presents from the Kinai craftsment for some preemptive damage control.
The Council concluded that the instabilities in Mara’s character, which were obviously growing more and more prominent, were a result of a Joining that hadn’t gone exactly right, but had gone well enough for the cracks in it to only just now be starting to show. She was sentenced to death, but before the execution could be held, she hung herself in her own home, refusing to the end to bow down to anyone.
Kenner and Teresa spent the first ten days of their reunion giving the furniture in Kenner’s house a good workout, and no one had the heart to take it against them. After all, the Blackwings were perfectly capable of governing themselves for a while... and, besides, the people of Kinai kind of owed it to the pair to let them have some time to thoroughly consummate their passions, and then repeat the favor a few months later when they finally tied the knot.
This vigorous consummation resulted in a birth of a twin boy and girl in the spring of the following year, and as a present to the new parents, the Elders permanently lifted all the bans that governed Teresa’s life in Kinai, and she was granted permission to try for a Joining come winter.
At first, Teresa intended to decline the honor, fearing that the Joining would be unsuccessful and unwilling to risk making a widower and orphans out of her husband and children. But Kenner begged her to have as much faith in herself as he did in her, and so she left a human woman of the planet Earth, and returned a true Kinai, Joined to the core of her being with a majestic beast, its incredible power infusing every single molecule of her body. It took her months to master the use of it, but once she did to the satisfaction of the Squadron Commander and his lieutenants, she became the newest recruit of the Darkwings, finally finding her place amongst her new people.
And so, life went on. Our lovers tried to make the most of every moment they had, finding fulfillment in their family, in their work and in each other, making plans for the future while resolving the problems of the present.
But every so often, when their babies were tucked in their little beds, and the world was at peace under the cover of the starry night, our lovers took flight together, wing by wing, their hearts soaring, joined in a love so deep that it makes dragons sing...
*****
THE END