Trinket (Reverse Harem)

Titles Are Too Hard

The ruling dragons ushered us down one of the long, immaculate, uncomfortably perfect corridors to another room, then down another hallway, and finally into a massive formal gallery with a ceiling the spanned a number of floors but did not open up to the outside and the windows were just decorative colored glass artwork. A massive hearth big enough to roast a dragon in burned off to one side, the flames steady and warm.

In the exact center of the room was a large woven mat that had had several sections removed to make it an appropriate size to host human forms. A low table about shin-height sat on the mat, with cushions scattered about it, and bowls of tea sat arranged around the table, with an array of food arranged in a single line down the center of the table, complete with graceful carafes cast from precious metals and set with gems and enamel and teapots of delicate crockery painted with precise, perfect scenes.

Korr escorted me to one of the seats. I knelt over the cushion, then Ormiss knelt on my right side, and Korr shifted his robes to kneel on my left. The others took the three seats opposite us, Ethat squished between Itek and Asund, while the ruling dragons each took an end of the table. It struck me as odd until I recalled these two dragons weren't consorts--they were a political marriage, like most dragons.

More dragon attendants appeared to serve the food. I'd just eaten, but the food looked excellent and who was I to turn down a meal? Portions of vegetables, delicatly roasted to a perfect crisp on the outside without scorching their natural sweetness, were placed first. Then I was given a small pie decorated with a crust made of many small pastry leaves, while Ormiss was next served portions of several mountain water creatures--a fish with head and tail removed, then something long and pale, and finally small creatures in crispy shells. For the others, there were portions of perfectly-seared meat with pink centers.

Ormiss inclined his head slightly, which Korr picked up on and brushed his fingertips along the table in a brief gesture as he picked up his cup of wine.

Ormiss began to eat. Then the dragons began to eat.

My pie was filled with deliscious golden grains of some kind, along with minced bits of fish and a variety of vegetables I couldn't identify. But it tasted of taint. Relatively pure, and not the deep taint I was used to, but it was there. Ormiss had said that the rain had started to carry the taint with it. Even if the taint hadn't reached up this high into the mountains, it still snowed here.

The wine was light and lovely, but also tasted of taint. More than anything else. Something about fermentation brought the taste to the surface.

There was no conversation during the eating. My consorts and I were perfectly happy to fill our bellies again. Ormiss, with elegant manners, declined second helpings, even though he probably could have eaten an entire school of those fish. And he left some of his uneaten.

Asund ate all of his, then ate Ethat and Itek's scraps. Ethat barely touched his, clearly terrified at being at the high table.

Once the plates were cleared and fresh tea bowls were brought, along with servings of delicate pastries that looked like realistic gemstones. They had the strangest nutty flavor that was both sweet and savory and a weird, mealy texture.

Ormiss tapped his finger on the polished table. "This unicorn horn, Dragons."

"Why does the fate of a unicorn who died centuries ago upset you so much, Hippocamp?" the Lord Dragon inquired.

"The unicorns receeded from the world because their hearts were broken--"

"By Sea Serpents," the Lord Dragon corrected.

"--and I do not think it is a coincidence that their disappearance seems to coincide with the appearance of the taint. That is a flooded mining chamber down there. The blue gems store magic. That's what you were mining. The Hippocamp call them Ether-Pearls. I've never seen blue ones, but I am acquainted with the undersea variety, which are either purple or white."