“I’m sorry if I’m keeping you from anything important,” she said, waving a hand over the mildly crowded plaza. “It’s just that I saw you get up to leave and thought it might be a good time to introduce myself without all those people around.”
The dragon still wasn’t speaking and Jahrra felt as if she was babbling.
She took a breath and said, “Anyways, if you have something to do for Shiroxx I don’t want to keep you.”
“No,” he finally said, his voice softer now. “I mean, yes, she asked me to run an errand for her but it is not an emergency. I can spare a few minutes.”
Jahrra grinned inwardly, trying not to let it show on her face. So, he was answering to Shiroxx’s beck and call, but from his tone and what he’d told her, he didn’t seem too happy about it. Jahrra dearly wanted to know what Shiroxx had done to keep such a tight rein on him but that would be far too blatant a thing to ask. Besides, most people who had to suffer the power of others didn’t like to talk about it. She should know, what with her own issues with Jaax.
“Well,” she finally said, “like I said, I just wanted to introduce myself. I’ll let you get back to your errand and I should probably get back to the meeting before Jaax notices I’m missing. Don’t want him sending out delegates to go looking for me.”
She smiled and was rewarded with a small chuckle from Kehllor. He sobered quickly but he still had a grin and the laughter still sparkled in his eyes.
“No, we wouldn’t want that.”
“Maybe we can talk again, after one of the meetings, if there is time?” she braved.
“Maybe,” he said, then turned and walked away.
Jahrra watched him for a while, her arms crossed and her lips pursed. She couldn’t say why but the golden dragon intrigued her. Maybe it was because she could somehow detect his cry for help and somehow helping him would be a strike against Shiroxx.
Sighing, she made her way back into the hall, taking the stairs and returning the same way she’d left. The meeting was still in order, a different member with a different complaint this time, so no one but Dathian noticed as she slipped back into her seat. She would give Kehllor’s plight some thought but in the end she wasn’t sure what she could do for him, other than extend her friendship and offer an ear to listen to his woes. That is, if he ever decided to talk to her again.
Autumn in Lidien, Jahrra decided, was by far her favorite season. The deciduous trees gently turned to crimson and gold and although the evenings held a bite of chill in the air, the days were relatively warm and pleasantly breezy on occasion. The people of Lidien seemed to agree, for everywhere she went Jahrra caught sight of harvest garlands and the signs of Sobledthe going up all over the city. The recess from school was drawing to an end with Jahrra eager to return, especially to her wildlife class. But on the weekend before the start of classes, Jaax surprised her with a question and a suggestion.
“Jahrra, are you making friends here in Lidien?”
They were sitting in the great room, enjoying a late dinner by the fire. The night was cooler than usual and they had come home late from a Coalition meeting. Jahrra had paid attention to the first half of the meeting which involved issues concerning potential allies from across the realms of Ethoes, but after that it had dissolved into the typical political banter she had grown so accustomed to.
She didn’t know how Jaax managed to keep a straight face while speaking to everyone’s concerns, whether they be petty or highly important, as if he cared. Perhaps he did care. Perhaps this is why he was their leader. But Jahrra couldn’t stomach it. Instead she would watch the faces of those who argued, and more often than not, those who did not argue. These were the people who said the most, in her opinion, for sometimes their silence spoke volumes.
She often found herself keeping a close eye on the dragon Kehllor. He never caught her watching him and ever since that day she had run him down to introduce herself, she had never forgotten about how she had hoped to help him. But his resolve was stone solid and she couldn’t figure out how to break through and reach him.
Jahrra sighed and forced her thoughts back on the present. She cut a delicate slice of roast beef and looked at her guardian. His tone had been slightly apprehensive, anxious even. Jaax wanted to know if she had any friends in Lidien? Of course she did. Senton, Torrell and Dathian definitely, not to mention some of her other classmates she met with for lunch or tea in the small shops just off the University campus on occasion.
Yes she had friends, but she had never introduced these people to Jaax. Well, there was that first introduction with Senton but that had been somewhat forced. And he knew Dathian from the Coalition but did he know the elf was her friend outside the group? And he had never met Torrell. Jahrra grinned with joyful malice. Oh, to experience the introduction of her guardian to her strong-willed friend.
Clearing her throat, Jahrra turned to Jaax and said, “Of course I have friends. Remember Senton? You met him on my first day of class. And you know Dathian. I don’t just talk to him at the Coalition meetings and he is Anthar’s assistant for my wildlife class. You haven’t met Torrell yet but perhaps you shouldn’t . . .”
Jahrra trailed off, her tone more teasing than anything else.
Jaax didn’t speak for a long while; so long she thought maybe he took her to be serious.
Eventually he said, “You have never brought them around. I thought,” he took a breath, “never mind what I thought.”
He sounded disturbed, worried . . . wounded? Jahrra couldn’t put her finger on it. Whatever it was, though, it pained her. He had been so prickly the past month after having been so placative on their journey here. Could there be more to the petty arguments and trifling complaints of the members of the Coalition than she had first thought? Could there be more going on that she wasn’t aware of? Deeper issues that weighed her guardian’s mind severely, causing him to be short with her and overly protective of her?
Jahrra felt suddenly ashamed. His tone when he asked about her friends, and then his mention of how she never brought them around had once again shown that side of him he never portrayed in public. And that was just it; when they were in public he was always harsh with her, as if he was trying to distance her from himself. Another way he was trying to protect her perhaps?
Jahrra shook her head and considered his words tonight. He had made it sound as if she was ashamed of him or feared for her friends’ safety if she did bring them home one afternoon. Then she braved a glance at him. He wasn’t looking directly at her but she thought she read something in his face, as hard as it was to see clearly in the dim firelight. Jahrra was taken aback at what she saw. Was that guilt and remorse etched in those harsh, reptilian lines? Was this his way of making amends for his callous behavior? His way of apologizing for covertly placing her in the classes he approved of and for the way Shiroxx had treated her?
She swallowed and took a breath, thinking of how to pitch her voice so as to cause the least harm. “I thought about asking them over once but I’ve been busy, with school and making an appearance at the meetings,” she said, eyes downcast, her dinner growing cold and forgotten. “I never got around to asking–”
“Of course you can have friends over, Jahrra,” Jaax cut her off, his voice seeming to return to its normal gruffness. “You aren’t afraid I will burn them to a crisp are you?”
Jahrra winced. In the back of her mind yes, she had thought that.
“No,” she said tentatively, “though I’m afraid Torrell might be a bit, um, abrasive. She makes me seem like a timid mouse.”