The Rider's Truth.

Times are Changing

Unedited. 

Chapter Twenty-Four - Times are Changing.

The old parliament building was crafted in a time of decadence and beauty. It was strong, yet elegant with thick stone pillars lining halls that seemed to stretch on for an age. I felt tiny – tinier than usual- in this hallway where the ceilings were tall and steepled and every foot-fall echoed for an age.

Murals were painted along the stone floor and I couldn't understand what they all meant, but the Valaxian flag – symbolising the five elements of this country was interwoven among it. I never understood why they included spirit, with the symbols of fire, air, earth and water but I wasn't going to go back and tell them not to do it. The colours didn't mix, and it bothered me.

Soldiers dressed in red and gold watched us pass with a critical eye. The twins had fallen silent, but the woman would occasionally turn her head to survey me from the corner of her eye. She was so effortlessly beautiful that I couldn't help the jealousy that churned suddenly in the pit of my stomach. I never wanted to be jealous of beautiful women because beauty was where I got my inspiration from, but some-days it seemed like life would be easier if I was beautiful too.

"You are beautiful, human." Nethore said stubbornly.

"I think you're a little bias, Ne." I smiled all the same. "But thank you."

Happy that he had comforted me, he settled back. He was still arguing with the guard and it amused me to see a man so resolute in doing his job properly that he would reprimand an impatient, temperamental fire-breathing lizard. I wanted that man's determination.

As I walked through the building, trailing haplessly behind the twins, I became aware of something in the air. It was light and calm, but it brushed against my skull and it felt curious. There was a buzz of awareness and I twitched, glancing around me with a frown.

"You can sense them?" The male turned, his eyes alight with curiosity.

"Who are they?"

"The security vaults below parliament hold the largest clutch of eggs in Valaxia." He shared a look with his sister. "These unhatched dragons sense the Vidalin and his Rider are near, and they are...curious."

"But, how can they?" It confused me. "They can't know what's going on around them."

"Dragons are infinitely wiser than we will ever know." He graced me with a smile. "Your Vidalin was likely aware of the eggs in Blood-Nest being smashed around him."

"Nethore is happy he barely remembers." Nethore said quietly. "Too many hatchlings died and Nethore survived."

It was selfish, but I couldn't find it in me to care about those smashed eggs as much as I did about Nethore surviving that. Was it fate, or just luck that saw that out of all those eggs, Nethore's wasn't smashed? He would have been dead a century and I would never have met him. Fate would have never have paired us together.

"Hush, Luthlien." Sharp eyes regarded me once more, before the sister rested a hand on his toned arm. "They are so young."

Luthlien's mouth curled slightly but I sensed no malice from it. They were including me in the conversation, and yet I felt like something they were observing, like an experiment they were acting out just for the craic. They turned in perfect time before a set of frosted glass doors where the iron handles had been plated with gold, and curled in delicately like leaves.

My stomach churned as the doors opened without anyone touching them, and the Elven twins strode into the room. Feeling suddenly nauseous, I followed reluctantly.