Jaax did raise a brow at that.
“Impossible,” he said, his mouth quirking in a smile.
Jahrra grinned, feeling the strange tension drain out of the room. “I shall invite them over this weekend, before school starts up again.”
The Tanaan dragon nodded. “I’ll make a note to be home, at least long enough to meet these friends of yours. Properly.”
“Your place, for dinner?” Senton seemed shocked.
So much so that he misfired his arrow and gave himself a nasty burn from the bowstring.
Torrell stood in her typical, casual fashion, leaning against the longbow she was using for practice as if it were a staff.
She gave Jahrra one of her demanding looks and said, “Really? Is his highness, the great and marvelous Raejaaxorix, in accordance with this?”
Jahrra felt her cheeks burning. She really had complained too much about Jaax to Torrell of late. She really never noticed she was doing it, but it was high time she stopped. Breaking that old habit of hers might be difficult, but how must it look to everyone if the leader of the Coalition and his ward bickered all the time?
“Yes, he’s aware Torrell. In fact, it was his idea. And he isn’t really all that bad, honestly.”
Torrell snorted and got back to her target practice. Jahrra brushed back a loose strand of hair and cast a glance at Dathian.
He was watching her carefully so she whispered, “Don’t worry, Jaax knows how to be, discreet. He won’t let slip who you are.”
That’s all the elf needed to hear for he grinned, his blue-green eyes glinting, and nodded as he knocked an arrow.
“I’ll be there.”
He released the arrow and it plunged into the heart of the bull’s eye several yards away.
“Ugh! How are you doing that?!” Torrell demanded in disgust, her black curls flying free of her hair tie.
Two days later, Jahrra was pacing the great room, the hem of one of her nicer pairs of pants brushing softly against the carpet. She had chewed the nail of her left thumb away and was about to start on the right when Neira burst from the small door leading to the kitchen to scold her.
“Miss Jahrra! Do stop that! It will do you no good to pace around, winding your nerves all up. They’re your friends for goodness sake; you don’t need to impress them!”
Jahrra sighed and gave the maid a sheepish look. “I know but I can’t help it! And Jaax isn’t even back yet!”
Neira clucked her tongue. “He’ll be here, don’t you fret. Now have a seat and read a book while you’re waiting. I’ll go get the fire on the patio started.”
Jahrra stood to argue and Neira cast her a quelling glance. “If you come up to help me, who’ll get the door when your friends arrive?”
Soundly defeated, Jahrra sank back into a couch and tried to read the book on the nearest table. The late afternoon sun cast golden light through the tall windows and the relative silence of the grand house seemed to claw at her nerves. Fifteen minutes passed and Jahrra heard the latch of the great door lift as Jaax opened it from the outside.
“No friends yet? Good,” he said, “I’m not late.”
Jahrra felt slightly better and smiled as her guardian pulled the door shut behind him. He didn’t go directly to his own quarters as he usually did upon arriving home, but instead moved towards the wide dais that stood in the corner of the room.
He looked weary, Jahrra thought. That fact worried her, for Jaax seldom looked weary, only during those weeks on the road when he feared they were being pursued by the Crimson King’s soldiers. Before she could think further on it the knocker at the small door clanged and Jahrra leapt to her feet, her heart going with her. She shot Jaax a quick look and he merely returned it casually.
“They are your guests,” he said, rising. “You should be the one to welcome them in.”
Jahrra didn’t know why she was so nervous. Neira was right; it was ridiculous, but she couldn’t help herself. She had never really had friends over before, except for Gieaun and Scede in Oescienne, but that had been different from this somehow. Tentatively, she opened the door. She was surprised to see all three of her friends standing on the wide top step of Jaax’s mansion but that soon passed when Torrell held up a paper bag.
“Marshroot,” she said, her usual, no-nonsense demeanor taking on a glint of humor. “You roast it over the fire, and, oh, you’ll just have to try it. Hard to describe.”
“Oh,” Jahrra managed, taking the bag. “We’ll have it after dinner.”
Then she managed to remember her manners. “Do come in everyone! It’s getting cold outside.”
Torrell, Dathian and Senton shuffled in, all seeming just as nervous as Jahrra. Even Torrell’s self-assurance seemed a little faded.
Jahrra shut the door and turned around to consider her guests. They were glancing around the great room, taking in the height of the ceiling, the size of the fireplace, the quality of the carpets, tapestries and couches, admiring the tall windows, noticing the looming dragon.
“Uh,” Jahrra cleared her throat. “Everybody, this is my guardian, Raejaaxorix. Jaax, this is Torrell, Dathian and Senton,” she said, gesturing to each of them in turn.
Senton smiled and gave a quick bow, a copy of the one he gave the first time he met Jaax in front of Emehriel Hall. Dathian mimicked the gesture, acting the part of someone who was freshly becoming acquainted with the dragon. Torrell, to Jahrra’s immense surprise, merely gaped at him the way a mouse might regard an owl that was swooping down upon it.
It was very hard to swallow the sudden laughter that bubbled up without drawing too much attention, but Jahrra managed. She never would have imagined that Torrell, her feisty, fearless friend, who had intimated on several occasions that she would like the chance to confront and fight a dragon, would be at a loss for words upon meeting Jaax. But, Jahrra thought with a grin, if anyone was to make Torrell act discomfited it would be Jaax.
“It is very nice to meet you all,” her guardian said in the voice he reserved for diplomacy. “Please, feel free to make yourselves at home. I hear Jahrra has an interesting dinner planned for you all but you must excuse me, I have business to attend to in my study. I am glad I took the time to meet you all. It is clear that Jahrra has chosen very fine friends indeed.”
Her guardian was all cordial manners and pleasantries and Jahrra felt herself blushing slightly. She smiled and motioned for her friends to follow her up the stairs. Senton was right behind her, admiring the inner design of the house, with a still speechless Torrell on his heels. Dathian seemed to fall back a bit but Jahrra only assumed it was to share a few words with Jaax concerning Coalition business.
Once upstairs, Jahrra could see that Neira had lit the hall lanterns for them. She must have snuck back downstairs and into the kitchen before everyone arrived. Before taking them out onto the patio, she showed them her room and only because Torrell insisted. Luckily, Jahrra had made an effort to tidy it up a bit so all dirty laundry, loose papers and other items were properly placed where they belonged. Torrell wanted to see Jahrra’s dresses and thankfully Senton was happy studying the tapestries of the maps on her walls.
“These are some of the finest dresses I’ve seen,” Torrell said, splaying the skirts of Jahrra’s moss and lavender dress out so she could admire it better.
Torrell may be tough but she did have her feminine side.
Jahrra merely shrugged, trying not to feel too abashed. “The ladies at the seamstress’s shop had the final say on the pattern. I only really cared about the color, and even then they made suggestions.”
Torrell dropped the hem of the dress. “Well, someone spared no expense on you.”