She grinned, giving Dathian a knowing glance. His look of slight bafflement melted away and a mask of awe and pure delight came over his face as his fingers curled protectively around the beautiful piece of carved stone. It nearly brought her to tears but she shrugged them away and turned back to her other two oblivious friends.
Jahrra sighed and looked down at her own gifts. A small stone statue of a dragon from Senton, a copy of The History of Dhonoara Valley from Dathian, carefully hidden in a leather book cover that claimed it to be a book on local wildlife, and a quill from Torrell, complete with an exotic bird’s feather. However, when Jahrra glanced to the side to pick up her quill she quirked her mouth in a frown.
“Torrell, where did the quill go? The one you gave me?” She looked around, thinking maybe it got knocked to the side.
“Mine’s gone too,” Senton complained, mimicking Jahrra as he searched.
The sound of contained laughter bursting free brought Jahrra’s eyes up to Torrell. “They’re right in front of you!” she barked. “You just have to look very carefully.”
Jahrra furrowed her brow in puzzlement but focused her eyes on where she had last seen the missing item. And there it was: the shape of a feather against the green lawn. Jahrra gasped and snatched up the nearly invisible plume. Slowly, the green of the grass faded away and a brilliant blend of teal and gold took its place.
“A cape bird feather quill!” Jahrra cried out, finally realizing what it was. She beamed at Torrell. “I love it!”
Torrell shrugged and tried to hide her joy at pleasing her friend. “I thought you might like one after our conversation in Tynne Alley.”
Jahrra couldn’t stop smiling, especially when the portion of the quill she held started paling and taking on the color of her hand.
“We’ll have to store these in the same place after every use,” Dathian said, eying his own quill in bemusement.
After their gifts were stored safely in their own packs, the four of them got to business and spent a good two hours in the crisp dawn morning, clacking wooden swords together and lodging arrows into hay bales before bidding each other a final holiday farewell.
Once home, Jahrra gathered some clean clothes and a towel and headed into the small stone wash room with the copper bathtub. A nice long hot bath would help ease her tired muscles and once she was done, she could spend the day on her patio or helping Neira with the holiday cooking. Near sunset, the housemaid shooed her away from the kitchens, insisting that she put on something a little nicer for dinner. Grumbling, Jahrra looked down at her flour stained shirt and smiled. Perhaps Neira was right.
A half hour later Jahrra was dressed in one of her nicer tunics and pants and was sitting in her usual stuffed chair in the great room, sipping honeyed tea and staring at the dancing flames in the huge fireplace. She glanced around the room, her heart thrumming in contentment as she admired the evergreen garlands and silver and gold ribbons Neira had put up to give the room a more Solsticetide feel.
Jaax was late, as usual, and as the minutes ticked away Jahrra grew more and more fidgety. The carved wooden box containing his ring sat upon the table in the middle of the room next to Neira’s wrapped bonnet. If Jahrra didn’t know any better she would have sworn the box was slowly growing in size, like some mushroom attached to the stump of an old tree.
Another half hour passed and the large handle on the door clicked. Jahrra tensed, the nearly empty tea cup in her hand threatening to break. Jaax stepped in through the great door, every scale on his body looking weary and ready to collapse from fatigue. Jahrra forgot her tension for a moment. What had him so worried that it would make him look several hundred years older than he was? For weeks he’d been looking worse for the wear and Jahrra was wondering if perhaps it was time she talked to him about it.
When the Tanaan dragon spotted Jahrra sitting in her chair and watching him, he stiffened and forced his weariness back into hiding.
“I’m sorry I’m late. Have you been waiting long?” he asked, his eyes sharp and the tone of his voice guarded.
“No,” Jahrra lied, setting her tea cup down.
“Ah, right on time!” Neira proclaimed, bursting out of the small kitchen door, pulling a large cart behind her.
An entire roast pig, complete with a red apple in its mouth, sat upon the rolling table. Several onions, carrots and potatoes were scattered about it in the large pot.
“Now Jaax, I know you’ve eaten already this week, but surely you have some room to at least taste the Solstice roast pig?”
Jaax smiled, any last traces of worry melting away. “Of course Neira, but if you’ll excuse me for a moment,” he nodded to both of them and disappeared down the hallway to his rooms.
“Oh, that reminds me!” she squawked, hands to her cheeks. “Presents!”
The housemaid disappeared through the kitchen door in a flurry of gray skirts, leaving Jahrra to stare at the fire once more.
An hour later the three of them were lounging around the great room, the meal finished and the fire whispering as the wood burned down to coals. Jahrra returned to her stuffed chair, Jaax reclined in his customary corner, and Neira sat upon the large couch in the center of the room.
Finally, the housemaid cleared her throat. “I wasn’t able to spend much but I wanted to get each of you something for the holidays.”
“Neira, you didn’t need to get us anything,” Jaax chastised gently.
Jahrra silently agreed.
Neira merely tsked as she handed Jaax a large box and Jahrra something smaller wrapped in tissue paper. Curious, Jahrra carefully pulled the paper away to reveal a small oil painting. She nearly dropped it in surprise as her eyes widened and filled with tears. It was an image of Phrym, standing proud and gazing through the picture frame with curious, smoky eyes.
“Oh Neira,” she whispered, clutching the picture close. “However did you manage this?”
The maid merely smiled. “A young friend of mine is studying to become an artist and he owed me a favor,” she said nonchalantly.
“Thank you,” Jahrra said, hugging the picture as if it were the real thing. Now she would be able to see Phrym every day, hanging on the wall of her room.
For Jaax she had ordered a large box of candied fruit Jahrra had seen him keep on his desk in his study. The dragon grinned and looked up at his housekeeper.
“I’ll be set for a whole year now. Thank you, Neira.”
Again, she brushed aside the gratitude aimed her way.
“I hope what I picked out measures up,” Jaax said, nodding to a large bundle wrapped in brown paper. “And for you, Jahrra.”
He indicated a long, narrow box wrapped in gold, topped with a ribbon.
Swallowing, Jahrra stood up and headed for the box, taking Neira’s gift and depositing it in her lap along the way. She had somehow lost the ability to speak for the time being. She lifted up the box, starting at its weight, and wove her way back to her chair. Before she went about the business of opening Jaax’s gift to her, she picked up the wooden box and walked over to her guardian.
The dragon gave her a curious look.
Jahrra managed a smile. “You didn’t think I’d forget about you?”
Her voice sounded meek to her own ears but before she thought too much about it, she bumbled on, “I mean, I know I forgot about you all the years before, that is,” Jahrra bit her cheek before she could finish the mess she had started.
She took another deep breath, never looking at her guardian’s face, and lifted the box up again.